All Along the Watchtower
by HomeOnTheWastes
Summary: Fallout/Myst Crossover. Sequel to The Good, the Bad, and the Insane. Riven AU. In which the Courier teaches the people of Riven how a rebellion should be done, goes big game fishing, and takes care of another old tyrant with delusions of godhood.
1. Prologue

**All Along the Watchtower**

**Prologue**

"It still sounds like magic to me."

"I assure you, it is not."

"You're a wizard, Atrus."

"I am no such thing."

"Alright, alright." Six threw up her hands in surrender, "No need to get offended." She turned her attention back to the pip-boy, and flipped a page in the diary she was taking careful pictures of. "Why didn't you give me this earlier if you wanted me to read it? I mean, just thrusting it on me mere minutes before you send me off into enemy territory is mildly inconvenient."

"I apologize, my friend." His eyes fell on the red and blue books sitting innocuously on the corner of the desk where Six had just placed them. She had been their guardian for the four months she had been on the island, but now it was time to trust that Atrus wasn't going to burn them given the first opportunity. "I haven't been thinking clearly," He said eventually.

"That comes with the little amount of sleep you've been getting since this started," Six said, glancing up at him. "Seriously, when I leave, you should get some rest before you suffer a psychotic break. Three days and the hallucinations start." She happened to know that he had been up for about two.

"I will try," He managed a half-hearted smile. "Do not worry."

"So what's the plan? Or is that solely my department?" Six asked. She closed the journal, that task complete, and gave the man her undivided attention.

"For reasons you'll discover, I can't send you to Riven with a way out, but I can give you this." Atrus picked up one of the many books scattered across his desk and placed it beside the small journal she had been working with. "It appears to be a Linking Book back here to D'ni, but it's actually a one man prison."

"Another trap book?" She picked it up and gestured to the other two that had been previously like it.

"Yes. To capture Gehn. Once you've found Catherine, signal me, and I'll come with a Linking Book to bring us back." Atrus opened the book in front of him, and spun it around so it faced her. On the little screen was a distorted picture flashing different images she couldn't quite make out. "There's also a chance, if this all goes well, that I might be able to get you back to the place you came from."

"That'll have to do, I suppose." She bagged the trap book, and removed the Sonic Emitter to check that everything still checked out on it. "If things go wrong, you know I might have to just shoot Gehn if he isn't going to cooperate."

He stared towards the gigantic pile of rubble off to his left. He heaved a great sigh before nodding, his eyes shut.

"If it makes you feel any better, this thing takes a lot more than a single shot to kill most organics unless I get a really lucky hit in. At most, it'll just temporarily paralyze him." Six said, putting the Sonic Emitter in the holster at her side. Shame she didn't have a Plasma Defender.

Atrus said nothing in reply. He just watched as she hid Chance's knife in her boot and one of Sirrus' in the inside breast pocket of her duster. She would say Atrus looked distinctly unsettled, but not enough to speak his grievances. Six whistled for Roxie's attention.

"Wait about five minutes before letting Roxie come through. If I'm ambushed, she'll surprise the hell out of anyone trying to get the drop on me."

"Very well. Just, do keep in mind that she might frighten some of the villagers. They may even think she is some kind of demon," Atrus warned.

"That could actually work in my favor if they're all under Gehn's thumb like you suspect." Six stood up. "Alright, I best get to rescuing the fair damsel. Anything else before I go?" She asked.

"Good luck, my friend."

"Hang in there, Mr. Wizard. We'll be back before you know it." Six touched the Linking Panel and was gone.

Prologue End

_"There must be some kind of way out of here," Said the Joker to the Thief._

_"There's too much confusion, I can't get no relief._

_Businessmen drink my wine._

_Plowmen dig my earth._

_None of them along the line know what any of it is worth."_

_"No reason to get excited," The Thief kindly spoke._

_"There are many here among us who feel that life is but a joke._

_But you and I, we've been through that._

_That is not our fate._

_Let us not speak falsely now._

_The hour's getting late."_


	2. Jailhouse Rock

**All Along the Watchtower**

**Chapter One: Jailhouse Rock**

Bars. Great. Six wrapped her hand around one of them and gave it a shake to test its strength. They didn't even rock. Gehn had thirty years to plan for Atrus' return. The Courier could only imagine that the jail built around the Linking sight was only one of many traps for him scattered around the Age.

A sigh escaped her as she looked around for the lock, but found none attached to her cage. Her eyes surveyed the immediate area. The Age appeared tropical if her scant knowledge of climates was serving her properly. The plants looked like the palm trees in the books she had read. Sand suited more for a beach than desert sat calm in the warm sun. Somewhere nearby she could hear the roar of water breaking against rock.

Movement caught her attention and a man walked into view, stopping his patrol by a large lever sticking out the ground far enough away from her prison that she'd never be able to reach it.

It was like Raven Rock all over again.

The man in a hat, dressed in a white long coat and dark brown pants glanced in her direction briefly before looking away. He did a double take and seemed to nearly jump out of his skin at the sight of her.

"Cho?"

"Hi," Six replied with a friendly grin. Her hand drifted to her side and rested on the handle of the Sonic Emitter.

He noticed the movement, and maybe he didn't completely know what it was in her holster, but he knew enough to guess it was a dangerous weapon. The man backed up a step, looking distinctly spooked. He began to babble in what was probably his native language with his hands up in front of him in a warding off gesture.

"Come 'round here much, soldier." Six tried.

The man stopped talking. She could only assume that he realized that they wouldn't be able to understand each other. He shifted from foot to foot. At a complete loss.

Six made the decision for him. She drew the Sonic Emitter, and aimed it at him. A shocked noise escaped him as she gestured from him to the lever he stood beside. Before he could even think of a response, a tiny object flew through the air and struck him in the neck. He grabbed where he had been shot before strength left his body and he collapsed. Just out of her line of sight, a person began to drag the body away.

When the first man was disposed of, another person wearing red and black ran into view. This new person looked at her from behind his mask, and then pulled the lever. He crouched down long enough to jam the mechanism.

"Catherine," Six said to him, hoping he'd recognize the name. "I'm looking for Catherine."

The person who had been getting ready to leave in a hurry, stopped. They walked backwards a bit as the bars completely lowered, and Six knew if she approached they would run off in a heartbeat.

"Katran?" The distinctly male voice asked.

"Catherine," Six repeated. The name had meant something to the man, and he hadn't turned hostile. If anything, he sounded excited. "Atrus sent me," She tried.

"Atrus!" Oh, yes, he definitely recognized that name. If he had been excited before, he was practically radiating energy like a five year old after eating a whole box of Sugar Bombs now.

"That's right, Atrus sent me," Six pointed to herself for emphasis, "to find Catherine."

He spoke a string of words in his own language and made exaggerated gestures for her to follow. The man ran off without seeing if she was coming.

The Linking sound broke through the air, and Roxie appeared in the cage Six had just vacated.

"Where the hell have you been?" Six asked. Roxie barked. "Whatever. I gotta follow a strange man in a mask. Roxie, stay out of sight and follow at a distance. Come out, only when you have to. If you pick up Catherine's scent, let me know. If you need to investigate something, do. Our time is limited so make the most of it." Six didn't wait for Roxie to reply before jogging off after the man...

_Three Months Prior:_

"You will be happy to know that your four remaining Ages have been officially cleaned up," Six said the second she Linked into K'veer. Roxie just lifted her head to acknowledge her presence from where she lay by the desk, but that was more than what Atrus did. He merely continued to scribble in the Riven descriptive book. He heard her all the same, he always had whenever she chose to bug him. "There is very little evidence left of your son's presence in them now."

"...Thank you," Atrus managed after a full minute pause in which she managed to pet her dog and sit down in the chair across from him.

"You want to know something kinda funny?" Six didn't wait for his non-reply before saying, "I found the missing page to your Myst Book." She placed it on the table in front of her.

"Where was it?" He asked, finally removing his eyes from the text he was working on. Atrus adjusted his glasses as he picked up the white page for closer examination.

"Hidden in a secret compartment in the Marker Switch by the ship," She answered. "The best part of this is that I found half a torn note in Achenar's room on Stoneship about the vault. I hadn't known what to do with it at the time. Had I gone to Channelwood, I would have found the other half in Sirrus' room."

He nodded, and placed it to the side. He rubbed his eyes, and continued to make the required changes in the Riven code. Six thought that if something wasn't done soon, Atrus would collapse under all the weight piled on his shoulders. A person could only take so much stress. First he had lost his wife, and then he had discovered he had also lost his sons.

Silence lapsed in the room aside from the continuous scratching of Atrus' fountain pen on thick parchment. Six frowned at him. She ought to bring him dinner. God knows he could use it. Somehow she didn't think his wife would appreciate arriving home to find her husband had nearly killed himself in her time away. Six checked her pip-boy. Wasn't quite time for that yet.

"There's something about the whole thing that's still bugging me," She started, breaking the quiet. She had been debating with Roxie for several days over whether or not to let Atrus in on her thoughts. He had enough on his plate already, but he could either provide the answers she needed, or he needed to know they might not be entirely alone. "I thought that maybe if I went to thoroughly investigate all the Ages where the pages ended up that I would get the answer. But I'm still as in the dark about it as I was a month ago."

"...What is it?"

"You didn't take out the pages, right? And spread them around?" Six asked.

"...No," His writing paused again. "I removed one from each book and put them with the D'ni Linking Book when I converted Haven and Spire from Prisons to experimental Trap Books. It was the simplest way to do it, there was no point to remove anymore. The boys _did_ see me hide the two pages, but I just told them they were replacements I wrote in case the books were damaged. They never knew enough about the Art to question it."

"And Catherine couldn't of taken the additional pages?"

"No." He answered.

"And it makes no sense for Achenar and Sirrus to have. I mean, why jump into a book if you were the one to break it? So, the pages had to have been removed after they entered them. Which begs the question, who did? Who else has access to your library?"

"No one," Bewilderment was slowly creeping across his face.

"There's another party operating here, Atrus. One who knew what your sons had done, but didn't take care of the pair themselves. Instead, they tore out more pages and placed them in areas that would show whoever came after them what the brothers had done. Which means this other party fully expected someone else to show up and play judge."

"What does this all mean?" Atrus asked, his eyebrows raising.

Six stared up at the ceiling. In her mind's eye she could see a full moon, and orange light from flickering torches. Somewhere to her left, a Khan was digging her a shallow grave. Benny's face full of sympathy as he aimed his 9mm at her head.

"I think the game was rigged from the start."

Chapter One End


	3. A Bad Moon Rising

**All Along the Watchtower**

**Chapter Two: A Bad Moon Rising**

"How do I get to Catherine's prison?" Six drew a picture of a person in a cage on the paper in front of her. "Catherine, prison?" She tapped it twice with the quill for emphasis.

The man in the mask had lead to her to the sprawling village island which they had to sneak into for reasons Six could only guess at. From what she had gathered he was part of some sort of resistance against Gehn's rule. That was the first bit of good news she had received yet.

When they had hidden away in a hut belonging to a sympathizer he had managed to convey to her that Catherine had been captured sometime after her initial arrival in the Age.

The woman who owned the hut was nervously staring out passed the curtains getting antsier by the second. The villagers were terrified of Gehn, the few that had seen them sneaking in had run off immediately.

He took the quill from her and drew what looked to be several islands on the parchment. The man drew a circle around the one farthest from the others. He waited for her nod of understanding before continuing. He drew a large fish in the space between the islands. Even just drawing the image of it made the man nervous.

"Guess that means I'm not swimming," She said. "Boat?" Six asked as she drew a crude picture of a raft with a sail.

He answered with what she had determined to be 'no' in his language. She sighed and ran fingers through her hair. She drew a picture of the train like thing they had used to travel between islands. Another no. What else then? Atrus had said it was impossible for Gehn to have any Linking Books, but was it really? He had said himself that Gehn had taught him some of the Art.

"Book?" She drew the corresponding picture.

He nodded vigorously and a string of words in his native language was shot at her.

Fantastic. Gehn had Linking Books. But than, why hadn't he escaped yet?

Six tapped the book drawing with the quill, "Where?"

**2**

"This...isn't the prison. Is it?" Six asked her new friend as she stood on the dark beach. The strange spherical tree loomed across the water ahead of her. Little yellow light shined between the gaps in the branches like windows. There was no sign of anyone wearing the uniform of Gehn's people, or anything else that would usually indicate a high security zone.

Two people wearing the same thing as the man who had rescued her ran over to them shouting in the Riven language. They weren't wearing masks, and Six could see one was a man and the other a woman. Their skin was as tanned and hair as dark as every other person she had met on the island chain, she could only assume that was a common feature of their race.

The three spoke in a rapid fire conversation that she couldn't even begin to guess the contents of. They did point to her an awful lot, and she couldn't decide whether or not that was a good thing. Atrus' name was mentioned at least twice, and so was Katran's, which she had discovered was their version of 'Catherine'.

Eventually, they gestured for her to follow them to a row boat waiting further down the beach. They continued to talk as they got into the boat. Six felt decidedly out of place. She wished Roxie was with her, but she hadn't seen hide nor hair of the dog since their arrival.

The waters rocked the boat in a way that made her stomach turn. She had never done well on any of the few boats she had ever been on. Her journey to Point Lookout years ago had her dry heaving over the railing the whole trip. Her precious vodka had been the only thing to help her through it.

The boat ride turned out to be a mercifully short one, and she was back on dry land in no time at all. She hadn't even gagged. Maybe she was finally getting those fabled sea legs Tobar had been on about.

The three rebels led her across the rocky island the great tree was rooted into towards a large door set into the base of trunk. Aside from the two people who had met them when they Linked in, as far as she could see there were no one on any form of traditional guard. These rebels were either really confidant, or really stupid. Both were equally bad in her opinion.

On the inside of the tree was a spiral staircase that stretched up far above her head like a great serpent. On the floor was a mural of the decorative dagger that she had seen at the Linking sight.

She was inside of a giant tree, on a planet she had reached via a book. No one would believe her if she ever made it back home.

They set up the stairs. Despite what she might have thought, their footsteps didn't echo in the cavernous space. Six could only attribute the oddity to the natural formation of the wood of the tree acting as natural soundproofing.

After what felt like an eternity, the stairs opened up to the inside of the sphere. A village designed like a giant hive revealed itself to her. Villagers rushed out of their way as they traversed the ladders and bridges connecting the egg shaped huts together. Skittish.

The three rebels finally entered a building and shut the door behind her once she was inside. The hut was a dimly lit one with rough wooden furniture sparsely decorating it. The first floor was wide with no other rooms branching from it aside from the stairs going up. Six took a seat at the table when beckoned by the others.

"Nelah!" The female rebel called up from the base of the stairs.

One of the men stood by a cupboard full of dishes, he held up a mug to her and said something. Six declined. They seemed nice enough so far, but that didn't mean she was going to trust them not poison her yet.

The front door opened behind her and the second man exited the hut in a hurry. One of her hands dropped from the tabletop to rest on her leg near her Sonic Emitter.

A woman came down the stairs slowly. She peered down into the first floor as she descended. She caught sight of Six straightaway, and turned to the first woman waiting for her at the bottom. The two exchanged words. When they were finished, the new woman turned and thundered up the stairs two at a time.

She came back moments later carrying something covered in red cloth. She set the object down in front of Six and removed the cloth. It was a reddish colored journal with a pattern along the edges of the cover. She opened it to see handwriting that was worse than Arcade's, but better than Boone's. It was in English, but reading it in its entirety would still be a chore.

Better get started.

**3**

Six was reflecting on what she read in Catherine's journal when the door to the hut opened once more and the man who had left earlier walked back in with a teenage boy following him. She would place his age to be around fourteen or fifteen if the people of Riven aged like the humans of her own world did. The man pointed to her and said something to the kid. The teenager, looking like he wanted to bolt, walked over to her. His clothes were at least one size too big for him. His tanned shirt and black pants showed the telltale signs of having been dragged through dirt. A state typical of most active young boys, and some girls.

"Hello," The teenager said. His accent was thick, but he was blessedly understandable. "You can call me Sunny," He said haltingly. "What are you called?" He pushed locks of thick dark hair out of eyes that matched the color perfectly.

Six closed the journal in front of her, and pushed it away. "Why Sunny?" She asked.

"It is what my name means in your tongue," Sunny said. He clasped his hands in front of him, and wouldn't quite meet her gaze.

"Well, you can call me Six. 'fraid I don't know how to say that in your language."

Sunny's eyes widened and he paled dramatically. "Your name is Six? That is a number, yes? After five?"

"Is that a problem?" She raised an eyebrow. Catherine had stated her people were superstitious lot. This could be bad.

Sunny suddenly seemed to find his hands fascinating. He shook his head mutely, fidgeting on the spot.

"Did Catherine teach you English?" Six questioned to change the subject. She gestured to the vacant chair across from her and the boy took the seat though he didn't relax at all.

"Your language? Yes." He began to draw invisible patterns on the tabletop with a finger. "She asked if I would learn so I could talk to someone who would come if she could not. I did not think it was needed. I was wrong," He whispered the last part so quietly she almost didn't catch it.

"You speak it well, Sunny." She offered him a smile in hopes of disarming him.

He didn't even look at her as he thanked her for the compliment.

The Moiety woman said something to Sunny and the teenager was quick to translate, "Why are you here?"

"Atrus sent me to find his wife, and to do something about Gehn. Not necessarily in that order," Six answered. Though, she wondered if she shouldn't have kept that to herself. According to Catherine, the Moiety believed Atrus to be a god. Telling them their god had sent her might give them the wrong idea.

Sunny translated what she said, and didn't look that much more overwhelmed than he had been already. The same couldn't be said about the others in the room. One of the men looked like he was about to faint.

She needed to keep things on track, otherwise she might be answering questions all day. She really didn't have time for that. "Now, I want to know about Gehn's books. How is he doing it and where?" She asked.

Sunny consulted with the adults in the room before answering, "There is an island where he assembles the books. He cuts down a great many of our trees for this purpose."

"Why haven't you guys done anything about it?" Six asked. "If you people are serious about resisting Gehn, wouldn't it make sense to hit him where it would hurt him the most? Destroying his production line would seriously hinder him."

The teenager's tone was puzzled as he relayed her new questions. Moiety adults appeared just as confused, and perhaps a little afraid.

"Anyone who tried would be fed to the Wahrk for sure," He whispered to her in a voice low tone after a lengthy chat with the others. "Death by the Wahrk's Gallows is a fate worse than death."

"What if the Wahrk wasn't a problem? What would be stopping someone from taking out the place Gehn assembles books?" Six asked. How does one kill a giant carnivorous fish by themselves without a harpoon?

Explosives.

If she needed to rile up the Moiety and the villagers than killing the fish might the way to do it. In any case, the kid didn't seem to want to relay her question. She shook her head and said, "What about Catherine's prison? How would I go about getting there?"

He didn't bother asking the others for the answer, "The island can only be accessed by Gehn. Everyone who has tried to sail there has never come back," Sunny said.

Some sort of security system then. If it was more than just the Wahrk than it could be a major problem for her. "Alright, how do I get to Gehn?"

This time he did have to talk to the others, "The fire marble domes. They keep Linking Book's to his office. All you need is the code."

"You have the code?" She asked.

"Yes." Sunny answered after a short conversation with the others.

Six leaned back in the chair. All and all, the little detour to Tay had given her more progress than she had expected when she had first Linked into the Age. She had almost all her questions answered, but now her to-do list had stretched on considerably. Six wrote each objective down in her pip-boy, the locals watching her with the same interest she had given to the first eyebot she had run into in the Wasteland. They went ignored until she was finished with her task.

Six stood and sized up the Moiety rebels in turn. The three before her were ragtag bunch, but she wasn't too worried. On the off chance all the other rebels were like them, she was still confidant that she could whip them into shape. If these people had successfully evaded and survived Gehn all this time than they couldn't be worse than the NCR's Misfits before she got a hold of them.

"Tell me about your operations," She asked. "What are your plans for disrupting Gehn?"

_One Week Prior_

"Look here, Roxie, it's a rare species of D'ni know as an 'Atrus'. It appears to be on a seldom made excursion from its den in search of food. Its diet mainly consists of donuts, cakes, and anything already cooked by someone else that it can get its hands on."

"Is there donuts?" Atrus asked as he walked passed the kitchen table to get to the pantry. He stopped on the way to give Roxie a quick pat on the back.

"Sorry, 'Rus."

"'Rus?" He turned away from his perusal of the food to give her a puzzled look she didn't see.

"'Rus." She agreed.

Atrus picked up a tin containing cookies she had made a day or two ago out of boredom. She thought they came out pretty well considering she hadn't handled most of the ingredients since she had left the Vault. "What are doing?" He picked up one to the empty cans that had once stored an oil like substance in it.

"Making explosives," She said conversationally. Six wished Boone was with her, he knew more about them than she did. "I've changed my mind, you aren't much of a 'Rus. I'll have to think of something else."

"I would like to believe you are joking," He sounded disturbed, but she didn't want to stop what she was doing long enough to check.

"You can't stop me from giving you a nickname. There are hundreds of things I haven't tried." Some were definitely more polite than others. Atrus was a nice guy, he deserved a name to fit.

"Uh, no. I was referring to the explosives you are preparing in my kitchen."

"Why? You've given me a mission to prepare for," Six picked up her makeshift fuse. "They'll be low yield, but something's better than nothing."

"I...yes, I suppose you are right. But at my kitchen table?" Resignation laced his words.

"I know enough about explosives not to blow myself up doing this. Trust me, over four years experience." She set the finished explosive down next to the other one before starting on the third. "Did I tell you about the time I defused an atomic bomb?"

"I will have to take your word for it," Atrus said. She heard him open the tin of cookies, and set it down on the counter. "I hope you don't have to use those."

"Me too, pally, me too."

Chapter Two End

**Disclaimer: I OWN NOTHING!**


	4. Coal and Candlelight

**All Along the Watchtower**

**Chapter Three: They're Picking Out Our Eyes By Coal and Candlelight**

The situation was actually better than expected. The first three people she had met were low on the food chain. The ones in charge of Moiety used to be part of Gehn's security force if she was understanding her young translator correctly. The older men and woman who headed the rebels were shrewd people who had kept their organization from being discovered for about thirty years. They knew how to keep things secret and locked up tight.

What they didn't know was how to attack.

Their almost purely defensive stance had served them well in their survival with only short raids to Riven proper for supplies every now and again. They had mastered the art of striking fear in the villagers to prevent them from interfering. The problem was that it worked too well. Some villagers were so frightened of Moiety that they would just give them what they wanted in hopes of getting them leave quickly. They were well stocked, but their recruitment was low. The Rivenaese hung paralyzed between Gehn, the Wahrk, and the Moiety.

It was much too late to go on the propaganda campaign they should have gone on years ago, so all Six could do was try to convince them that the time to come out of hiding was now.

As far as Six could tell, most of the rebels she observed on the practice grounds were good with their melee weapons, but that wasn't where her own strength lay. Getting raised in a Vault on pre-war tech had given her a certain fondness for energy weapons that she had never been able to shake. The only thing that came close was a small fascination with explosives that had worried her dad when she was younger. He had spent a lot of time trying to curb that one.

The man she had spoken to had hair that had gone white some time ago, and his skin looked remarkably like leather. He squinted at her through his one good eye. He surprised her by knowing a few English phrases, but not enough for a full conversation. The elder man—who's name she was sure she was mispronouncing as 'Evar'-had explained to her that an attack on the Book Assembly Island and Survey Island would be impossible. They didn't have the numbers, and the ones they did have weren't brave enough to shake their superstitions enough to have any success on that front.

That Wahrk had to go. The Moiety wouldn't go anywhere that wasn't Village Island or Temple Island with it still swimming around.

The rebels had the code to the Fire Marble Domes, which would theoretically take her to Gehn's new Age. But if his holiness had trapped the Linking sight into Riven than it stood to reason that he would have a similar rig set up there. She couldn't risk it. No, she had to get Gehn to come to her.

A promising plan began to take shape in her mind as she mixed together a number of ingredients that she recognized under different names than the ones the Rivenese used. Sunny fidgeted across the table from her, watching as she made several new bombs.

"Does the Wahrk use sonar?" Six asked the teenager without looking up. The artful depictions she saw on Riven made it look like an overgrown, dull colored angelfish, but the thing sounded like a whale to her. Though, she only knew slightly more about whales than she did about Wahrks.

"So-nar? I do not know this word," Sunny told her. He had managed to relax around her after spending nearly two hours in her company. She heard him take a sip of water.

"Sound waves? Does it make a lot of noises?" Six twisted the cap on the container as tight as she could.

"Yes," He said.

"Interesting." How would something like that react to Gabriel's Bark? "Does the Wahrk scare you?"

"It scares everyone," He answered softly.

"Why?" She had enough explosives. She had a few more than she could carry, but those weren't for her. Evar could consider them a donation to the cause. "It's not like it can grow feet and walk on land, or anything like that. I would say you're quite safe here in another age, living in a tree."

"You sound like Katran when you speak like that."

Six finally gave Sunny her attention. He was staring at the tubes of explosives, but he had enough sense in his head not to touch them. He was playing with his cup of water instead, twisting it around on the table.

"She sounds like a smart lady, so I'm choosing to take that as compliment," Six said with a wry smile.

Sunny straightened up, "It was!"

Six laughed and shook her head in response. He relaxed again, but fixed his eyes on his remaining water. She took the time to look around the practice yard where she had set up shop after showing a few of the Moiety the Ranger Takedown she had learned from Ranger Andy and the Scribe Counter Veronica had taught her. The group she had taught them to were demonstrating the moves to a new party with more efficiency then she had shown them. They were good.

Still watching the practice session she said, "The Wahrk and the superstition surrounding the number five is all being used against your people. The faster you listen to Katran, the faster you'll be free."

"I know. Few do, but I listen to what Katran says. She defeated Gehn, she left. She must know more than everyone else does. I believe her when she tells me that I should not fear what I was taught to fear. It is hard sometimes, but I try. It is why she taught me how to speak your language."

She looked back over at Sunny to find him staring at her like she held the answer to the universe. "I would usually preach that you shouldn't believe everything you hear, but in this case, Katran is right. It's just a number, it's just a fish. A big carnivorous fish, but a fish nonetheless."

"Yes," He paused and looked around before leaning forward to close some of the distance between them. "And you are going to kill it?" He whispered.

"If luck be a lady."

Sunny frowned at her. "I do not understand you," He said.

"Don't worry about it." She waved him off. "You want to go ask around for volunteers?"

"_No_ one is going to help you," There was absolutely no doubt in his tone or bearing, and he made no move to get up from the bench.

"You won't know until you ask."

**Meanwhile**

Roxie sniffed the air. Under the smell of ocean, people, and fish was the smell of death. It was faint, but laced in every wind that blew. In the Wasteland that she rarely visited, the scent was obvious. Here it was like a ghost haunting your every move. Not usually seen, but the chill down your spine was no less obvious.

She sniffed the air again, but focused on the unique smell of tobacco in the room she had managed to get into after what felt like hours of exploration and trial and error with the human constructs. It was a good thing she was no average canine, partly computerized brains came in handy. The tobacco was one of kind according to her database, and worth cataloging in her memory.

Roxie wagged her tail. She loved it when she could use her police dog training, Six always gave her the best treats when she found something useful.

The strange furnace had a burned book inside. That was no good. Six wouldn't like that. She whined in disappointment. Roxie tried the desk next. She hopped up to place her front paws on it and looked at the items on display. There was a book in good condition, she nosed it open but it wasn't one of those special books that brought them to Riven. It looked like a journal. She picked it up between her teeth anyway. Six loved books so much that she had added an algorithm to her programming for her to try and pick up every intact book she might find.

There was nothing else that Roxie could see that was interesting to her, so she moved to leave.

As she was heading towards the door to go find Six, her radar alerted her to to someone making their way down the path towards the door.

Roxie looked around and darted under a table for lack of anywhere else to hide. The door opened, and Roxie perked up. It was that woman again! She was sure of it. The same scent and everything. The woman strode over to the desk with a single mindedness that Roxie usually attributed to robots.

"It's gone? She beat me here? Where is she? What is she doing?" The human ranted. She put her head in her hands and shook her head. "What am I to do? I have to do something." She heaved a breath before exiting the room deep in thought.

Had the human not been so stuck inside her own head she would have surely seen Roxie. What a stroke of luck. She wagged her tail as she waited for a bit to make sure the human wouldn't see her when she left the room. Shame she couldn't tell Six about this development.

The Courier ought to be pleased with the book though.

**2**

The Courier that Roxie was so eager to return to was currently having an argument with Evar, Nelah, Eti, Erlar, and a man she hadn't been introduced to but was calling him Fisher in her head because Sunny had told her he was the best fishermen in Tay.

"Sunny, tell Evar I think he's a bastard son of whore who wouldn't know a good plan if it came up and bit him in the ass."

"I-I do not understand some of those words," Sunny said, his eyes widening.

"That's funny, the first words I usually learn in any language are the swears. Katran dropped the ball. All right, tell him I think his mother is a woman of loose morals, and that the circumstances of his birth is highly suspect."

Sunny's jaw dropped, "No!" He shouted. "How could you say such a thing?"

"Easily. If he doesn't like it, than he should get the _hell_ _out of my way_." To illustrate her point, she advanced on the group blocking her way to the Linking Book back to Riven. They back stepped, and held up their hands.

Fisher started talking and Sunny was quick to translate, "You cannot go. You must not attack the sacred Wahrk. You are needed to save Katran."

Six stopped short of them, "I _am_ saving Katran. It's not as simple as just walking into Gehn's Age, and expecting results. I need to get his attention in a big way. By all accounts, the best way to do that is to kill the damn fish."

"If you do that, there will be a panic in the village. Among the Moiety too." Sunny pleaded for Eti.

"And? You guys have never been shy about your scare tactics before," She folded her arms across her chest and raised an eyebrow at them.

"This is different. This is not just a scare. The Wahrk has been both feared and respected for generations. Killing the last of its kind will-"

"Prevent Gehn from feeding your people to it," Six interrupted. "I understand your respect for the creature, and normally I would leave anything with religious attachment alone as it's none of of my business, but I can't this time. The Wahrk has been one of the few things that has kept your rebellion from having any type of real success. You've all been too scared to do anything truly worthwhile in your fight all because of it. I'm sorry, that's just the way this has to be if your people really want to be free."

_Almost Five Months Prior_

The cave was glowing with torchlight when Six walked in with Rex and the litter behind her. Journeying all the way to Zion with a litter of eight rambunctious cyber pups and their dad had been an interesting experience. She'd rank it somewhere between fighting off Deathclaws in Quarry Junction and being abducted by aliens.

Rex let loose a happy bark, and rushed passed her right up the steps to Joshua Graham's worktable. The pups were so quick to imitate their father that they nearly knocked her down in their excitement.

"Rex, it's so good to see you again...ah, and your children." Joshua pushed a weapon he was repairing away from the table's edge so it wouldn't fall if the dogs bumped it. Butch jumped onto his lap as he was leaning back in his chair. "Yes, hello!"

Six was treated to the rare sound of Joshua's laugh. It was not unlike sandpaper sliding across leaves. She smiled at the sight of the man being accosted by his (and Edward's) old dog.

"What? No love for me, old man?" Six asked as she walked up the table at a much more sedate pace.

"I'm pleased you found your way back to us, Ruth," He said, using the name the New Canaanites had given her. She had thought about using it on a more permanent basis, but everyone already knew her as Courier Six. There was no need to get people confused. She was used to 'Six' anyway.

"See if you feel that way after I leave you alone with those little monsters," Six said. She picked up a set of leather armor with the stitching torn along one arm and reached for the heavy duty sewing kit.

"Ominous." He reached up and tugged the armor from her grasp before gesturing for her to put the kit down.

Six put up her hands and sat down on the stool across from him. She opened her bag and threw some doggy treats down in the corner by Joshua's bed area. The pups yipped and forgot Joshua immediately. Rex just silently went under the table to lay down between Six and Joshua.

There was a soft fondness in his bright blue eyes as he watched his new guests. Few were willing to get close to him, he had once confessed to her that part of the reason he enjoyed corresponding with her was because she didn't fear him. Rex and she were one of the few who didn't in any way.

"How you doing?" Six asked. She had looked him over when she had walked in, but it was difficult to gauge his health under all of the bandages.

"As well as usual," He answered. Joshua picked up one of the broken .45s at the table and began to work on fixing it.

"That bad?" Six frowned at him and gave him another once over, but received the same result.

He glanced up at her briefly before returning to the gun, "You know none of it truly bothers me." He set the weapon aside and pulled the armor she had picked up earlier closer to him. The .45 was dinged up, but Six had no doubt that it would work like brand new.

"Not being bothered by it is different from being well," Six sighed and pulled off the striped bandanna wrapped around her head. "Listen, Joshua, your burns really shouldn't be hurting you still. It makes no sense unless something else is going on." Her two best guesses were psychosomatic, or Edward put something in the pitch before setting Joshua alight. She couldn't say what it might have been unless Joshua let himself be examined by a real physician, someone with more knowledge than her above average skill in medicine. You know, an actual doctor. Preferably one that specialized in burn victims. The Followers had a couple that she knew of, a few she even trusted to keep their mouths shut. With right amount of caps donated to their cause, Six was certain she could convince them to take a 'vacation' in Utah.

"I believe we've had this discussion before," Joshua said tiredly.

"Since we're both too stubborn to be swayed I fear we'll be having this conversation often," Six replied as she retied her bandanna.

"I don't doubt that," He fumbled the stitching on the armor and was treated to Six yanking it from him to do it herself. Joshua gave up on it in favor of going back to repairing the guns scattered across his table. "I am trying not to be so stubborn. I'm afraid it's a subject I need a lot of work in."

"Hey, at least you're honestly trying. That's more than some people ever do," Six consoled. She picked out Joshua's stitching and began again.

"Hm," Joshua considered both the .45 in his hand and her statement. He turned over each carefully before answering, "A decade ago I wouldn't have thought I needed to change anything at all. It all seems very much like a dream now. One long terror in an endless night. It took the light of flames before I was able to wake up again and behold what I had done. What I had so easily become."

"Being set on fire would wake anyone up."

Joshua pretended not to hear her, "The old me, the one that first set out from New Canaan on missionary work, the one I had lost somewhere along the way, opening his eyes at that moment and facing the monster that had taken his place..." He shook his head. "I needed the fire as I need the pain of it to remind me now. So I can never forget."

Six was silent for a time, just carefully fixing the stitches on the armor. What could she say that she hadn't before? It was an old sermon of his. Despite the fact he said he wanted to be less stubborn, he wouldn't hear any different when it came to his being 'forged anew in the flames'. But like he said, they'd just have to work on it.

"Shame you couldn't have found a different alarm clock," Six finally said. She folded the armor back up and placed it neatly on the edge of the table before putting the sewing stuff away.

"Nothing else worked in the past," Joshua said. Reilly ran up to him and jumped up to place her front paws on his leg. She yipped at him, and wagged her tail. He put the gun down so he could pet her properly.

"Do you suppose there couldn't have been another way to show you your wrongs?" Six asked as she watched him play with the youngest pup. The smallest, but the bravest of the group. The little thing was positively fearless.

He looked up at her just long enough to say, "If there is one thing I have learned from you, Ruth, it's that anything is possible. But, as time travel is an impossibility, we will never truly know. I see no reason to dwell on such topics."

"I guess you're right," Six said, dropping the subject for now. "Let's dwell on something else."

"Very well," Joshua agreed. "How about you tell me when you are finally going to return that set of clothes Daniel and I let you borrow."

"I'll have to get back to you on that one."

Chapter Three End

**Author's Note: **

So, the Wahrk doesn't actually look much like an angelfish, but remember that Six has never actually seen one. She only has a vague idea what they look like. You're going to have to forgive her ignorance in marine biology.

Anyway, you and I know that just walking into Age 233 worked out for the Stranger, but the Courier doesn't know that. She believes she is taking the safest route when in reality she is doing the opposite. While the end result is going to be much the same, the way to get and even the aftermath is going to be quite different. On that note, in the sequels I will be showing what happens to the Rivenese and the consequences of all of this. If you're interested, you'll just have to keep reading on. I am going to be doing the five numbered games and several new stories with plots all their own. Stick around.

About the title of this story. To my best understanding of the song All Along the Watchtower, it's about two people, the Joker and the Thief, who sit outside the walls of a civilization run by greedy princes. The Joker is frustrated by their mishandling and complete disregard of the land, and '_can't get no relief'_. The Thief advises him to think rationally, and perhaps do something about it. The second part of the song has them riding towards the castle walls where they are spotted by those on the watchtower.

At the time, I felt the themes almost fit Riven if you take the them less literally. Gehn is a tyrant who strips Riven of her resources being viewed by the Courier, the outsider. The Joker and the Thief could be Atrus and the Courier, but I like to think that Six plays both roles. It's just two sides of her personality in conversation. But I'll leave it up to you.

Thanks for reading,

_Home On the Wastes_


	5. Smoke On the Water

**All Along the Watchtower**

**Chapter Four: Smoke On the Water**

As it turned out, there had been volunteers willing to help her. Three, to be more specific. Six had taken to calling them Moe, Larry, and Curly. Not the nicest of nicknames, but those were the first things that came to mind when they had volunteered.

Moe, the man who had first led her to Tay, had the most courage out of the trio. When she had tasked him to break into the Survey Island to signal the Wahrk with his two friends he hadn't hesitated. Oh, he had looked ill alright, but he had picked up his hook weapon thing all the same.

It had taken a lot more convincing to get the other two on board with the idea. Six actually had to bribe them with some of Sirrus' gold that she had helped herself to when she had been cleaning up after the boys. Money talks no matter what planet you're on.

She sat at the bottom of the Wahrk Gallows with her knees pulled up to her chest and her arms wrapped around them. Roxie sat on the gangplank above with her head resting on her paws. Her eyes were open and fixed on the relatively nearby watchtower. The guard had cleared off when they had spotted them. Hanging from the gallows was a giant chunk of Sunner, skinned and dripping. Had the Wahrk been a shark it would have been all over the bait the minute the blood hit the water.

The journal Roxie brought back with her belonged to Gehn, and while Six found it interesting, it didn't contain anything she hadn't already figured out on her own.

Six checked her pip-boy for the third time in ten minutes wondering again if it was wise to trust the Three Stooges with something so important. Unless the Wahrk detected the blood, she could be sitting bored for awhile if they didn't signal the damn thing.

She inspected her new explosives strapped to her belt. The ones she had made on Myst hadn't been waterproofed, but that didn't really matter because if the thing managed to knock her into the water than she'd be as good as dead. At least she'd die the way she lived. Splashing around aimlessly until something bigger than her swam along and ate her whole.

She started to whistle _Yankee Doodle_ under her breath as she glanced around at her surroundings again. The inexplicable holes in the water boggled her mind, but you can only stare at something so much before it ceases to interest you. Without further information there was no point in gazing at it slack jawed.

Roxie spotted it first, the dark shape far beneath the waves, slowly getting larger as it made to surface in its own time. Six jumped up and readied the first bomb. When it came in range of her estimated throwing distance—thoroughly tested with sticks of dynamite back in the Mojave—she activated the explosive and let it loose.

Back when she had been helping the Boomers get the B-52 out of Lake Mead they had told her some interesting stuff about explosions in water. Instead of dampening the blast, as she had assumed, it actually enhanced it. If whatever you're targeting isn't in range of the actual explosion chances are it'll still be killed if it's anywhere close as the shockwave will deliver enough force to crush bones and/or vital organs. Throwing a grenade in a pond is a great way to net you a lot of fish if you didn't mind the shrapnel.

So, when the bomb went off she was expecting a little more than it getting pushed off its course. The explosion stunned the Wahrk for only a moment before it righted and shot towards the gallows with more speed than she was expecting. Six didn't have the quickest of reflexes, but she had managed to get off another bomb. Again, the thing was only stunned for a moment.

Fucking thing had armor like a Deathclaw.

Roxie was barking and growling as the Great Wahrk slammed into the gallows with enough force for its tusks to splinter the wood and twist the metal at the bottom, but the gallows remained floating. That was her first real look at the monster fish, it was huge. Flashbacks to Rawr flitted through her mind, somehow managing to distinguish itself in the maelstrom of thoughts and feelings flying by at the speed of light. Even so, her hands remained steady as she readied a third explosive. The one she now held had a much higher yield than the previous ones. Hopefully it would give the Wahrk more than just a pause for thought.

Unfortunately, though she had seen the Wahrk turn and swim away she had thought it was angry enough to come back, but it just kept on going.

The Sunner, still swaying in the light breeze, sprayed her with drops of blood as she hurled the explosive with all of her might. When it went off not three second later she actually heard the alien noise of pain the Wahrk screeched in response. Blood stained the water, trailing the fish as it tumbled end over end.

Six thought that would be the end of it, but the Wahrk recovered with a vengeance. It slammed into the gallows again before she could even think about reacting. The whole thing tipped over. Her arms pinwheeled in a vain attempt to get her balance.

The impact of breaking the water's surface felt like glass being smashed against her back. She manage to suck in a desperate mouthful of air before she was completely under. Six fumbled for her Sonic Emitter as she twisted around in the thankfully clear, sunlit water.

She kicked her legs and broke the water surface for more air. Six was vaguely aware of Roxie barking at her in alarm from above and the shouts of people farther away. It was all a very distant thing to her as she searched for sign of the Wahrk.

The water exploded as the giant fish burst from the water and swallowed the Sunner whole. The blood trail following it down beneath the waves. Six aimed the Emitter and fired twice after it. Instead of the white rings dissipating the further they got from the source they grew in intensity in the water and remained concentrated for a greater distance. She missed its back fin by a yard, but it heard it all the same. The frequency was set to a point that it wouldn't usually hurt humans as long as they weren't directly exposed to it often, but aquatic animals like the Wahrk had far more sensitive ears. She had read old pre-war documents of the sonar on naval ships confusing marine animals. Both sonar and the Sonic Emitter release pulses of sound, just for different purposes. If it were true than she might have a shot of getting out of the water.

The Wahrk, when it got enough distance, turned around and swam back towards her building up to its top speed fast. Six took careful aim as it charged her head on, opening its mouth wide. She held her breath, and fired until she emptied the clip. It gave another audible cry, this time more ragged and piercing than before. It stopped swimming, its momentum the only thing driving it forward.

Six wasted no time in turning and swimming for what was left of the gallows. Above, Roxie was beside herself with fright. On the previously empty watchtower was a whole group of people spectating, and children had filed out of the school sometime during the fight. Their faces displayed equal parts horror and awe as their teacher desperately tried to usher them back inside the building. She scrambled up the wreckage and quickly searched for the Wahrk. It spasmed pitifully near the surface. Roxie barked in a way meant to get her attention. Six looked up to see a person in a full Moiety uniform holding one of her spare bombs in their hand. They tossed it down to her, and she managed to catch it without fumbling. She lit the fuse and waited until it was almost gone before throwing it at the miserable creature.

Water shot up in a large column before dissipating, leaving only ripples behind, and showing what was left of the Wahrk floating on the surface. One side of its natural armor had been blown away and the insides had been thoroughly pulverized, the flubber almost entirely absent. Blood spilled from its visible eye socket and gaping mouth.

Not the most noble way to kill something, but even if the Rivenese had a fishing rod and line strong enough to handle the Wahrk she wouldn't have known how to use it. She had been forced to kill a lot of things in her life, all the bodies sorta started to blend together into one mass blur of dead after awhile, but his one...this one would stick with her for a long time.

There was shouting, a lot of it. She would have to pay her respects to the creature later. Roxie and her needed to get the hell out of dodge before the shit hit the fan.

_Two Months Prior_

"That was fast," Six said as Atrus closed the book and handed it to her. She carefully put it beside its twin in her bag.

"They simply needed all the pages and a few minor alterations to the text," Atrus said and immediately returned to the Riven Descriptive Book.

"Let's just hope they sit tight in there until you and Catherine talk things through, and not do anything rash. I've told them the two of you will be 'round eventually. And seriously Atrus, you better not just pretend they don't exist after I leave here. This is a problem that isn't just going to solve itself if you ignore it."

"As you have told me before," He answered, his fountain pen scratching along at as fast a speed as it could go without making the words illegible. It seemed like he was trying to make up for the five minutes he had been away from the book.

"Sorry, Atrus, I'm just making sure. Not for their sake, mind you, but for you and your wife's. This is the sort of thing that will fester if you leave it be for too long."

"What exactly is it that you hope will happen? I try to think on what could be in the future regarding them, but it is as though my mind becomes paralyzed." His writing faltered mid word for the briefest of moments. That was the only indication he gave that the subject bothered him. "I want the best, but I fear the worst. I have become aware of what they are capable of, and it terrifies me."

Six watched him write without answering. Advising a man on what to do with his criminal sons was not the biggest decision she had ever made, but whatever she said could make or break his family. Perhaps even the man in front of her himself. She liked Atrus, she did, but his judgement had proven faulty in the past. To disastrous results.

"You want some friendly advice I picked up along the way?" Six asked after a time.

"I would love nothing more," Atrus said, sounding like he really meant it which encouraged her.

Six pulled a bobbypin from her pocket and began to fiddle with it as she began, "There are three types of people out there: the pacifists, the scavengers, and the predators. Those two are the truest form of predator you'll ever find. But make no mistake, that doesn't have to be a bad thing." She grinned a bit, "No good sheriff was ever a complete pacifist. Her humor faded as quickly as it had come, "The very best thing you can do is encourage their better instincts, hobbies, and what have you. It might not seem like it right now, but they do have them. I don't even know them that well and I can tell you at least one each. But, perhaps the most important thing you can do is be honest with them. If you lie or hide what you feel behind a mask they both might get the wrong idea...Sirrus especially, he's a man who'll see what he wants to see. Best not give his distorted imagination any more fuel than it already has."

"I fear I'll make another wrong decision," Atrus said. He looked up at her with weary eyes, "I can't afford another one."

Six dropped the twisted bobbypin onto his desk, "How long have you and Catherine been married?"

"Almost thirty years," He answered softly. His eyes drifted over to the picture she had brought him from Myst.

"Congratulations."

"Thank you," Atrus said. He managed a small smile before returning to the book.

She waved her hand at him, "There's your answer."

"Pardon?" He looked up at her again.

"It's the same thing I've been telling you since we met. You aren't as alone as you feel. Two minds are better than one. Good communication is going to be your only thing that'll get you through this storm. Work on it."

Chapter Four End

**Author's Note:**

I've set up a poll in preparation for my version of Exile: Which companion would you like to see accompany Six? Please go vote if you have a preference.

Thank you for reading,

_Home On the Wastes_

**Disclaimer: I OWN NOTHING RECOGNIZABLE IN THIS FANFIC**


	6. Six's Heroes

**All Along the Watchtower**

**Chapter Five: Six's Heroes**

Tay was in chaos, people had already heard of the Wahrk's demise at the hands of the woman sent by Atrus to deliver them from Gehn. The council was desperately trying to gain some semblance of order by the time she arrived back with Moe, Larry, Curly, and all the other Moiety brave enough to come watch. Some of them had the foresight to partake in the old wartime tradition of looting while everyone's eyes had been on her. Moe had even managed to convince others to sabotage some of the spying equipment on Survey Island while they were already there. The story of their success was being told alongside hers, and was quickly making the three into heroes.

Some had broken out the alcohol while others were decrying the murder of the Wahrk. Six couldn't really blame them if only because she had just killed an endangered species. She'd feel worse about it if the whole planet wasn't on the verge of collapse anyway.

Sunny had rejoined her side looking wane, and a little tipsy. Apparently, the Rivenese had no minimum drinking age. He had offered her a cup filled with the local favorite, a strange green liquid that was only slightly more watery than cough medicine. In the situation she was in, it would be rude to turn down the drink despite the very real possibility of poison, so she downed it in one go, much to the amazement of everyone who saw. Only years of being a functioning alcoholic who occasionally drank moonshine kept her from her from gagging. She got a round of applause from the people around her. Evidently, that was not a drink you were supposed to gulp. Six might be immune to addiction, but she still felt the effects of the drink hit her like a ballistic fist. She handed the cup back to Sunny, and went to go find somewhere to sit.

She collapsed on a clear spot of ground near an important looking building and hoped her vision would stop spinning soon. Holy shit.

Roxie materialized seemingly out of nowhere and licked her face in sympathy. The dog had been swept up in the crowd when the returning champions had been greeted. People had been so caught up in the moment that they hadn't noticed her. Good thing too, because Six wasn't looking forward to the first time somebody finally spotted Roxie.

Six heard footsteps jogging up to her, and turned to squint at Curly who was offering a large cup of water with a sympathetic smile spread across her face. A nasty looking cut that had stopped bleeding only recently tore down her right cheek, and a bruise accompanied the eye above it. She glanced at Roxie, but said nothing to the dog. The two had been introduced earlier when Roxie had brought her Gehn's journal. The Three Stooges had been more intrigued than afraid, but she couldn't count on that continued goodwill from everyone else.

"Thank you," She said. Though Curly might not have understood the words themselves, she seemed to get the sentiment behind them. The woman nodded, and offered another smile to her.

Six took a few careful sips of water, and eyed the cut on Curly's face. She had bandages with her, but nothing to sterilize wounds. She did have a couple of stimpaks, but she didn't want to waste those on a simple cut.

Sunny found her again and before he could say anything she said, "Tell her to see a doctor."

"Doctor?" Sunny question. His brows furrowed, "What is doctor?"

"A, uh, healer?" Six's hand caught on tangles as she tried to comb her wet hair out of her face.

"Doctor means the same as healer?" He asked, his head tilting to the side as he tried to puzzle out the problem presented to him.

"Sort of. It's close enough." Six shook her head as she gave up on her hair, "That cut on her face needs antibiotics to prevent disease."

"An-ti-bi-"

She held up her hand to stop him, "I see." He either didn't know the word in English, or his people hadn't achieved that level of medical knowledge yet. Regrettably, she didn't have the time to enlighten them. "Please go find Evar, Eti, or anyone else who has some kind of authority. Tell them I need to talk to them about something important."

"Yes," Sunny replied and wandered back into the crowd of well wishers and malcontents.

Six finished her water as she waited for some kind of reply to her request. A memory of the first time she had been introduced to Major Polatili in Camp Forlorn Hope demanded her attention. She thought it might have been nighttime, but it could have easily have been early morning, she didn't remember anymore. The man had been wound up tighter than a screw on a Securitron when she stumbled into the command tent with Boone and ED-E. He had been so grateful to see them that she honestly thought he was going to kiss her. He didn't, thankfully.

She tapped her fingers against the side of her cup as she tried to figure out the significance of that particular memory. What did the Major have to do with her current situation?

Sunny reappeared in front of her and bade her to follow him. She climbed to her feet, pleased when she didn't sway. Her head was pounding, but she didn't think she was any worse for wear. The teenager led her and Roxie across two sets of short bridges and up to another level of the tree. They passed progressively larger structures that were placed closer and closer together. The whole thing screamed 'downtown' to her. The buildings looked more to be public buildings than homes, one in particular that they walked by could only be a school with the cheerful drawing done in colorful chalk decorating its outer walls.

They came to a wide open area surrounded by balconies on the level just above. Six would guess that the population of Tay was less than that of New Vegas (and its ghettos). If she was right than everyone and plus some could fit into the space comfortably. At the back was a raised platform with firemarble lamps lining the edges of it. The leaders of the Moiety were standing on the stage deep in conversation.

Evar looked towards them when he spotted their approached. He excused himself from the others and hopped down the platform with more spry energy than a man of his apparent age usually possessed.

"Hello," Evar greeted as he met them halfway. "Trouble, friend."

"I know, I am sorry about it, but this is a better situation than you might think." She waited for Sunny to translate what she said. "If you hurry, you'll get more than enough volunteers for an operation on the Book Assembly Island. I guarantee most of Gehn's security will be looking elsewhere, I would say you would only need ten people tops to infiltrate and sabotage the machinery."

"He still does not think it's a good idea," Sunny said for Evar.

"Listen, in the long run this will do your people a world of good. This isn't for now, but for the future. Trust me," Six said. She wasn't even lying. Destroying Gehn's operation wouldn't really matter because the whole Age was going to die no matter how hard Atrus fought it. This wasn't about Gehn at all.

Evar stared at her for a long time before he headed back to the others. Six, Roxie, and Sunny were quick to follow the old man.

He climbed back up and began to speak to the other leaders. What he said caused a commotion among the men and women. Sunny didn't bother to translating the specifics.

It took ten minute before they came to a decision. A few of them looked absolutely sour about whatever it was. Evar gestured for Six to climb up onto the stage with them as Eti left looking like a woman on a mission.

**2**

She was right about the population of Tay. The reopening of the Lucky 38 as a functional casino had garnered a bigger crowd. As she lurked behind the Three Stooges she revised her opinion and decided that maybe only about seventy-five percent of the people had bothered to show up. The other twenty-five percent was drunk off their asses and couldn't make it to the gathering.

Six had asked why a full gathering had been necessary if all they were doing was getting volunteers for a dangerous mission. Apparently, everyone of age in Tay was considered a combatant. That kind of attitude had it's pros and cons, but she didn't have time to have that kind of debate with the council.

Larry glanced back at her, and she just smiled at him from her spot in the shadows. Evar said she had to be present, he didn't say she had to be seen. Though, she feared she still stuck out like a sore thumb with her hair, skin color, and clothes. Roxie was off hiding somewhere nearby, Atrus' warning about her being seen as a demon was still in the back of their minds.

A man Six couldn't remember the name of was speaking to a crowd with emotions running from scared to confident. The man finished his speech with the same passion present at any pep talk she had ever been privy to in the past. The people responded with a cheer. The man pointed to Moe, Larry, and Curly and said something that got an even bigger response.

Men and woman stepped forward towards the stage with their hands raised like school children waiting to be picked by their teacher. Six counted just over thirty. That might actually by too many for what she had in mind, but she'd work with it.

The crowd looked like they were about to break into another party, but Fisher was having none of that. He said something harshly and waved everyone but the volunteers and the lingering Sunny away with both hands in a shooing motion.

She looked down at the volunteers and suddenly realized why she had been thinking of Polatili. It wasn't the Major himself, but the battle to take Nelson from the Legion. That had been a bloody business, much of the war over Hoover Dam had been. Boone and her had led the attack on the camp with a squad of NCR soldiers ranked so low on the food chain they hadn't even the clearance to get leave in New Vegas. Her plasma defender and Boone's shiny new anti-material rifle had made short work of the Legion, more so than the subpar service rifles the NCR was so fond of handing to their soldiers. The attack would never had worked without the pair of them and ED-E. They had come out of it in serious need of a doctor, but they had won alright. Boone had finished things by removing Dead Sea's head from the rest of his body with the Chopper as Six had been too busy getting people down from crosses and getting them to safety. Afterwards, the morale at Camp Forlorn Hope had been so high that there was serious talk of changing the name to something less ominous. By the end of the war, the Camp became one of the NCR's biggest success stories and had become something of a point of pride in the military. A legend inflated and backed up by propaganda.

She didn't think Gehn was crucifying people, so that was an improvement on that front. But if this business went the way she wanted it to than a similar outcome could occur.

Which was why Moe was officially leading the operation. There was nothing quite like a homegrown hero for the history books.

_Four Months Prior_

"By Yahvo, you look terrible."

"Thanks, Atrus. You have such a wonderful way of making me feel like a million bucks," Six rolled her eyes and collapsed in the chair across from him. She fought off a yawn.

"I'm sorry, my friend. Are you alright?" Atrus asked. He put his pen back in the ink well and gave her his full attention. "Is he giving you trouble? I knew this was a bad idea. I never should have allowed you to talk me into it," He sighed. That torn look he got whenever either of his sons were even implied took over his face. Half stubborn love and half sorrow so deep it made the Grand Canyon look shallow in comparison. There used to be anger in the mix too, but that had bled out fast.

"Yeah, he's been trouble." Six rubbed her face so her words came out muffled, "But believe it or not, he isn't doing it entirely on purpose. I just spent that last twenty minutes trying to reassure him that there weren't any cockroaches in his bed. _And no, Sirrus, there really aren't any crawling on you._ He's pretty out of it," Sirrus was a sick bastard, but Six didn't actively wish what he was going through on anyone. "I chained his leg to his bedpost to deter any silly thoughts of escape, and he understood before the symptoms got too bad, but now he's convinced I'm planning on leaving him there to starve to death. And that's only the latest of his theories of my nefarious intentions towards him. My personal favorite is the one where I'm going to sell him to someone named Sav-something-or-other. I told him he wasn't worth even a tenth of his horde in Mechanical, it wouldn't be worth the trouble."

"Sav-something-or-other?" Atrus shook his head, silently dismissing his own question. "He doesn't really think those things, does he?" He asked instead.

"If I had to guess, I would say that Sirrus has been drinking like a fish for years now. This, in combination with whatever the hell else he was on, has led to some of the nastier effects withdrawal can have on a person. Hallucinations, and paranoid thoughts are part of that. Luckily, he's only had about one seizure at this point. Suffice it to say, I'm not staying here long. I just wanted to give you an update on his condition."

"He will be okay, won't he?" He asked reluctantly, fearing the answer.

"People have died from alcohol withdrawal in the past," She admitted to him. Six watched Atrus freeze up at her words. She was quick to continue on, "I'd feel better if I had some Fixer, but I'm making do." It didn't look like that had made Atrus feel any better. She added, "Sirrus is more stubborn than an old ghoul, he'll pull through. It's better we get this over with now and with someone to look after him than he slowly experience all of the symptoms alone, drawn out for who knows how long in that book space."

"Or alone on a deserted Age," He whispered more to himself than to her. Atrus reached for his pen again looking like his thoughts were anywhere but on his writing. "Thank you for doing this," He said to her quietly.

"Don't mention it, Atrus. I better go back, see if I can get some food in him."

Chapter Five End

**Author's Note:**

I'm sick. I have been since I posted the last chapter. Which is my defense for the screw up with the poll. If you still care, it should be on my profile now. Sorry about that. I have a headache and now I feel like an idiot. Ugh.

If anyone is interested, the title for this chapter is a play off the movie Kelly's Heroes. It has very little to do with this story, but it was all I could think of.

I'm going to curl up in a cave somewhere.

Bye,

_Home On the Wastes_


	7. Let's Start A Riot

**All Along the Watchtower**

**Chapter Six: Let's Start a Riot**

Six was supposed to be in Tay with the Moiety council discussing the logistics of freeing Katran. So most of the Rivenese would be surprised to learn that she was biding her time with the Three Stooges on the Village Island. She kept one eye on the time displayed on her pip-boy. At 8:45 PM, a group of over fifteen rebels would launch a diversionary attack on Temple Island. At 9:00, her group would make for the Book Assembly via the mine cart. 9:10 and the rest of the volunteers would free the people Gehn had locked up at the Village jails after she killed the Wahrk that afternoon.

The Wahrk's death hadn't caused the disorder she had been hoping for. Gehn had acted swift enough to put down any unrest before it became a major problem. All upstarts had been dragged to the jails with no word on when or if they would be freed. Rumor had it a few had already been executed.

The Village had turned into a powder keg just waiting for a spark. She just might get that riot in due time.

Six checked to make sure Chance's knife was right where she left it as she didn't want to use any more energy cells than she absolutely had to. She knew how to knife fight, but she wasn't good at it. She only ever carried knives out of sheer paranoia that she would be in a situation where she was deprived of her good weapons. You know, like now. And Veronica was always telling her that her many fears were unfounded. Shows what she knows.

She forced herself to relax and just watch Larry and Curly playing fetch with Roxie. The dog was wagging her tail so fast it was just a blur of movement. After their initial confusion over Roxie's appearance, they had taken to the dog with enthusiasm. Six hadn't observed any canine like animals in Riven and had actually had to show them fetch and where Roxie liked to be pet best. They had no baseline to judge how dogs were supposed to look, for all they knew Roxie was a normal creature from another Age. So, that concern was proven false.

That did not mean Veronica was right. Not at all.

"This?" Moe asked, pushing a paper towards her. He had picked up a couple of English words from Sunny and her. He could say: hello, goodbye, quiet, this, right, left, ahead, behind, stop, go, yes, and no.

Six looked at the paper and nodded at him. He had written out each word he knew under the examples she had previously placed on it. Her handwriting was clear and careful print like a smoother version of something you would see on a computer while Moe's was more suited to calligraphy. The unfamiliar English letters were stilted and not half as flowing as the matching Rivenese words he had scrawled out below them. Beside each word were crossed out botched attempts.

Sunny had told her that Moe had been raised to be part of Gehn's Guild of Writers. He hadn't even been a year old when Atrus escaped Riven with Katran, but his father had run off to join the Moiety shortly after the event. He had tried to take him with, but his mother had put a stop to that. Moe had grown up with his mother, but unbeknownst to her, his father had secretly visited him as much as he could. When he was twelve, his mother had been accused by a person in another guild of treason and she had been promptly executed without much of a trial. Moe's father had wasted no time in spiriting him off to the Moiety's safe house.

She took a picture of the page with her pip-boy for reference of the Riven words he had graciously added. Her eyes caught the time, and she handed him the paper back.

"We need to go," Six said. He understood only one of those words, but he put together what she meant himself when she stood and grabbed her bag.

Moe got up from the kitchen table and said something to the others. Their smiles faded and Roxie dropped the stick they had been using in their game. The dog was beside Six in an instant. Curly checked out the window before giving them the okay to leave.

The Village was silent and completely dark. The stars and half moon did little to illuminate their surroundings, but Six didn't dare activate her pip-boy light. It was a damn good thing she had a pair of excellent eyes. Doc Mitchell had once called her a 'Monocled Falcon' after an eye exam. That eye implant might have had something to do with it, some of the best money she had ever spent. Well, that and the sub-dermal implant and all the others she had bought. Who doesn't like a little self-improvement?

But being sharp eyed didn't mean she noticed everything, if she wasn't paying attention than it was anyone's game. That was what Boone, Rex, Roxie, and ED-E had always been for, aside from their companionship.

She struggled to keep herself focused as they proceeded down the twisting paths the Rivenese were so fond of, that was perhaps the hardest thing for her to do. Her mind was always chewing over something, and taking her attention away from her surroundings. She couldn't afford that now.

They got to the mine cart just as a very loud explosion could be heard in the distance. Someone was putting her explosives to use. Six just hoped they weren't being stupid with them, and hadn't blown themselves up. That thirty minute introduction to bombs demonstration that she had given them hadn't made her feel any better about handing them over to the eager volunteers, but she really didn't have much of a choice in the matter. Her own explosives weighed down her bag.

Six got into the cart and Roxie jumped down onto her lap. The dog was really too big to be sitting on her like a puppy, but Six did nothing but wrap her arms securely around her. Curly climbed in behind them. It was a very tight fit, but neither complained as the cart sped off.

The journey to the Book Assembly Island was the closest thing to a roller coaster ride she had ever experienced. Her heart stopped when they entered the water and didn't start again until they exited. She would have loved an in depth explanation for those orange rings that protected the cart through the ordeal. Maybe there was an answer in Gehn's journal. She made a mental note to read it more thoroughly when she had the time.

The cart finally slowed down until it came to a complete stop. Six was about to push Roxie off of her to get up when the bottom opened and the three tumbled out down a short drop. Curly landed on her knees in the receiving bucket at the bottom of the chute they had fallen down and Roxie rolled to a stop just ahead of her near a ladder on the scaffolding. Six's right side hit the edge of the structure, breaking her fall on the rest of the way down. She hit the sand hard.

Curly exclaimed to her, but Six cut her off with a sharp hiss for silence. She brought her pip-boy up and checked her health on the display. The Vault Boy was still smiling, but her torso had taken a bit of a pounding. She didn't know how pip-boys knew this sort of thing, but she was glad they did. It saved her time, and her life on occasion. She just accepted it as another Vault-Tec mystery and moved on.

Roxie hopped nimbly off the paper shredder and trotted over to her. When she was near enough, the dog began to lick her face in concern. Six pet her in return to show Roxie that she was fine before standing up. Curly was looking down at her in worry and Six managed a smile that probably went unseen in the darkness. The Courier gestured for her to come down.

The steam valve, the fiber machine, the Ytram catcher, the mine cart system, and Gehn's former office. The girls were to go ahead to get the Ytram catcher and find a way inside Gehn's office. The boys would get the rest behind them.

According to people in the Moiety who had once worked on the island before joining the rebels, the only good way to get to the Ytram catcher system was through the machine filled with water that made the mat of fibers which would eventually become paper. You had to go through a drainage tunnel at the bottom of it. That seemed dumb to her, but if Gehn was paranoid about the Rivenese discovering the ability to create their own Linking Books, than a strange design plan to his facilities made a weird kind of sense.

Curly rushed over to the steam valve while Six went up to the large machine. From the sounds of it, Gehn made paper by hand and didn't have anything like a Fourdrinier Machine. A good thing too. Otherwise he would have the potential ability to mass produce books.

Following her informants instructions written carefully into her pip-boy, Six drained the water and raised the straining platform inside. Curly rejoined her side as she was opening the door.

A noise of wheels coming to a screeching stop cut through the quiet and a moment later Larry and Moe were deposited down the chute. The two landed in a heap at the bottom. Moe was the first to recover and helped up his friend. Six gave them a subdued wave which was returned by both men. They would be destroying the machine behind Curly, Roxie, and her.

Six took one last look around the dark beach, but saw no guards or watchmen. Presumably, they had all been called to the Temple Island to help subdue the rebels there. She glanced down at her pip-boy and saw that they needed to hurry.

**2**

"I thought you had been in here before? How did you get passed the locked door?" Six said to Roxie who tilted her head to the side. They had gone crawling through the vent to get in. Ladders and ducts were always an obstacle where her dogs were involved, but they managed all the same. "Or was the door just open?"

Roxie barked out an affirmative to that.

"Lucky," Six muttered. Roxie must have been on the Island at the same time Gehn was. It was a miracle they hadn't run into each other. For him, anyway. Roxie would have torn his throat out. "Where do you think I should leave it?" She looked at the glass walls and knew that would not do.

Roxie looked towards one of the desks.

"That is traditional." She went over to the desk and looked at what was on it. There was a note laying beside one of those wooden eyes. Six skimmed it and shook her head. Replacing the eye had been careless on the Moiety's part. Gehn hadn't figured them out yet, but he would eventually if they kept giving him clues. It was amazing it was had taken him this long. Gehn wasn't striking her as a particularly smart man. Oh, he could build technical stuff like the trains and stuff, but he lacked imagination to a criminal degree.

Atrus had to have taken after his mom.

Six removed the jar of red paint and brush she had gotten from Tay. She swept her arm across the desk in one quick motion, scattering everything across the floor. The eye rolled towards the door and Roxie chased after it. Carefully, she used the paint to write large words on the surface of the desk. She had never been much of an artist, but she was no stranger to graffiti. Everyone where she came from wrote something on a wall at one time or another. In Nebraska she had once had an argument with an anonymous person on the side of an old bank over the course of a week about the pros and cons of using caps over precious metals for currency. She couldn't remember the specifics, but she recalled they had agreed to disagree.

'A BOOK TO D'NI IN EXCHANGE FOR CATHERINE, UNHARMED. SEND REPLY TO VILLAGE BY MAG-LEV.'

Six contemplated her handy work for a moment before signing it,

'-COURIER SIX'

He might as well know who was behind all of it. She drew a crude spade with a twenty-one on it beside her signature. She did that more for Ulysses than for herself. He would have wanted her to show her flag. The Wild Card, he called it with a combination of respect and amusement.

Satisfied, she took one last look around. Six thought about smashing the vials of ink and paper making solutions as one more fuck you, but managed to restrain herself. She needed to be all business until Catherine was safe. She could be petty some other time.

Roxie and she headed out the door and towards the bridge to Temple Island knowing the others would be behind her soon. A series of explosions from below confirmed her suspicions.

**3**

The attack had long since finished when they arrived on Temple Island, everyone having already fallen back to link up with the others at the Village. Even in the dark she could see smoke all the way on the other island. It sounded like quite a bit more than thirty volunteers fighting.

The Temple Island had been a piece of cake for them to sneak through, but they had to wait for the mag-lev to return before they could get to the Village.

There had been indeed more than just the volunteers fighting. More Moiety had shown up sometime during the fight, and the villagers themselves were taking part. The watchtowers had been destroyed and Gehn's loyal men had been pushed back towards the mag-lev that led to Survey Island.

Buildings were burning and dead lay on the was quickly apparent that the security had been overwhelmed. The great Wahrk Idol that hid an elevator had been ripped apart by an explosion, the jaw hung open with one side unhinged from the rest.

Six and company had gotten to the mob in the jungle part of the island just in time to help with the final push. There was little point in trying to calm down the angry crowd so she settled for directing them in the right way. She managed to get some rudimentary strategy going with the cost of straining her voice due to having to shout over the commotion.

She also never needed to display her poor melee combat skills because of how many people that were so eager to do the job in her stead. They stormed the mag-lev station just as the car was pulling away crammed to capacity with people. The mob rushed onto the ones that had been left behind, grunts mostly, and they didn't stand a chance. Some were killed, some mauled, but Six and a few of the Moiety still keeping their cool managed to save eight people.

By the time the fighting had ended only about ten of Gehn's men had escaped via the mag-lev. The people's cheers could probably be heard across all the islands as they celebrated their victory. Village Island belonged to the people again. Perhaps some did worship Gehn as a god, perhaps they still feared him, but the Wahrk was gone and so was the guards that had seen to it that they remained fearful. No guards meant not one to carry out the terrible deeds that had been ordered of them. It seemed to strike them all at once that their friends and family wouldn't be dragged away to their death anymore, or their children taken to Gehn's special guilds never to be heard from again. It was the first small taste of freedom that Riven hadn't had for a long time.

In the hours that would follow, the Rivenese's good spirits would dwindle leaving them staring around in blurry eyed confusion. A single question on everyone's mind was voiced by Sunny when he joined up with her as the first rays of sunlight touched the water and the horizon,

"What now?"

_Three Months Prior_

"I have a question for you," Six announced as she set down a plate of food in front of Atrus. She was still getting used to the ingredients kept in the kitchen so dinner consisted of toast and cooked vegetables. She had yet to hear any complaints.

"Ask away, my friend." He finished the sentence he was writing and then carefully placed the descriptive book aside for a quick break.

"Can you say with absolute certainty whether or not Achenar is claustrophobic or something like it." Six crouched down to pet Roxie who had taken to sleeping in D'ni by Atrus' desk when Six didn't need her backup when visiting Sirrus. The guy might be chained to the bed, but she wasn't taking any chances with the psycho. He had been weak for the past week or so, but he was getting better and better everyday now.

Atrus set his fork down and stared down at his plate. His eyebrows drew together in thought. "I-I don't know," He said. A troubled frown appeared. "Why?" He looked down at her in question. More proof he had been quite the absentee father, but Six didn't chastise him for it. The man had been made more than aware of his shortcomings in the worst way possible. He didn't need her to remind him. Roxie looked between the two, sensing the tension that was brewing.

"Sirrus and I got to talking out of sheer boredom." Talking was perhaps generous word for it. More like exchanging a generous collection of veiled threats and insults. "And I asked him a bit about his brother. He was really confused as to why I kept calling him Giggles."

"Yes, why Giggles?" Atrus asked. If Six had been entertaining any notion that Sirrus had been adopted, it flew right out of her mind when Atrus turned to her with an expression that perfectly mirrored the one Sirrus had given her earlier at the same question. Just one more in a series of small things Six had observed that made Sirrus his father's son despite everything on the surface.

"You two haven't been talking to him lately. When I met him he was...out of it. Giggling like a loon. Had Sirrus not been quite so slimy anyone would have immediately assumed Achenar was behind everything with the way he was acting. It was really bugging me why you never figured out there was something wrong with him with the way he was acting. Than Sirrus enlightened me that he isn't normally like that. That he's usually serious and quiet. He thought about it for a second and then told me Achenar's claustrophobic, has been since he was thirteen. The book space isn't technically small, but you can't really go anywhere and the only light comes from the little viewing window when the book's open. Now, I take anything Sirrus says with mountainous piles of salt, but it makes a bit of sense. Lately, Achenar has almost seemed catatonic. He doesn't really speak and he doesn't even seem to be aware I'm there. Atrus, if it's true you can't leave him there."

"What would you like me to do? Let him out like I did for Sirrus? Achenar isn't physically ill like his brother was, he could-"

"Get shot, knifed, or mauled by Roxie," Six interrupted. "This might shock you, but I've fought bigger things than Achenar. In any case, that wasn't what I was asking. I was asking you to come up with an alternative to leaving him in a place that'll only serve to destroy what little of his sanity he has left. If you don't want to do anything than you might as well just execute him."

"I'm not going to kill my son!" That was the first time Six had ever heard Atrus raise his voice high enough to be classified as a shout. She guessed he was usually a calm man, but the pressure on him was making him unravel at the seems. If he kept it up he would drive himself as mad as his kids.

"Good to hear," She said calmly. "Now think about what you _are_ going to do."

He deflated and began tapping his fork against his plate. The little ding, ding ding of it bounced against the walls. "I could...I could finish the Link. Turn the Trap Books back into Prison Books." He nodded to himself and then looked down at his still full plate, suddenly remembering its existence. He began to eat, showing amazing restraint for a man who had skipped lunch and had a poor breakfast.

"Sounds good, but you ought to keep them separated. I get the distinct feeling that they'll try to kill each other the first chance they get." Neither had bothered to hide their distrust of each other. There was anger too, not hatred, anger. She couldn't even begin to guess at its source, or sources, but it was not something that would fade anytime soon.

"Achenar will go to Haven and Sirrus to Spire," He said after he swallowed a mouthful of bread.

"Ooooh those sound nice. They are habitable, aren't they?"

"Of course. I did make sure," He replied.

"Fantastic." She clapped her hands together, startling Roxie who had been drifting off into a doze again. "When will you be getting on that?" Six asked.

"When I finish the latest set of changes to Riven. I don't know how long it will take me, the Age is falling apart so quickly, but it shouldn't be too much longer."

"Atrus." She narrowed her eyes at him.

He sighed, "Yes, I suppose you are right."

"I don't think your doors are sturdy enough for him if he really wants out. I think I'll keep him in Stoneship until the Prisons are ready, rig the door to lock from the outside." She brushed her hair back as she mused on the best way to go about it.

"Promise me you'll be alright," He said softly.

She stood up, leaving Roxie to sleep, and leaned her hip against the corner of her desk. She folded her arms across her chest as she began to tell him another story that made Atrus glad he didn't own a Linking Book to her home, "Did I ever tell you about the time I fought a Yao Guai with nothin' but a kitchen knife? Do you know what a Yao Guai is? Well..."

Chapter Six End

**Author's Note:**

Six is, of course, embellishing the story with the Yao Guai. Like every time an old fisherman tells the story of his Big Catch the fish gets bigger and bigger.

I thought about writing a big fight scene on Village Island and showing more of the mob, but decided against it for multiple reasons. The playthrough of New Vegas and Fallout 3 that I'm using for the base for this story had a character that was generally a pacifist unless she absolutely couldn't be. I piled most of the points from the first level ups all into Speech and Science just so certain situations wouldn't turn messy. That and the lack of any combat situation in Myst or Riven made me opt out of doing one while the Courier is in Atrus' neck of the woods. If anyone tells me they disagree than I will start writing more fight scenes in the future.

That last bit was a poor attempt to explain the personality changes for Achenar between Myst and Myst IV. Being in that terrible place in the trap book and having claustrophobia would make anyone a little neurotic.

All this stuff with Achenar and Sirrus is actually going to be important later on. Just bear with me, I am going somewhere with this.

Also, thank you for voting. ED-E had actually been my first choice for a companion, but I thought I'd see if anyone else had an opinion on the matter. Assuming there's no more votes, than Six is going to have sooooo much fun explaining the little floating robot to Atrus.

NEXT CHAPTER: The aftermath of freeing the Village and Gehn's response.

Thanks for your time,

_Home On the Wastes_


	8. How High's the Water?

**All Along the Watchtower**

**Chapter Seven: How High's the Water?**

Six was dreaming.

_She stood on a cracked asphalt road. One in thousands that she had walked before. Six knew in the way dreaming people know things that she had once been on this road even if there were no signs and she had no map. Water was everywhere. An ocean layered over the desert. It came up to her knees, but it offered her no hindrance as she walked on. She followed its currant to her destination, the place she had been called to instead of the Silent Stranger. There was something wrong. The water that fed the Tree was being poisoned by a grinning figure._

"...I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life, freely. It was your mother's favorite...your mother..."

_"Dad?" Her voice sounded like she was underwater. She looked, but did not see him. No, because he was dead, wasn't he? He sacrificed himself when she could have saved him. She could have..._

_There was a desperate woman blocking her path. Six stopped, her long shadow ending just at the woman's feet. They stared each other down under the burning, unmoving sun._

Water splashed against her face and her eyes snapped open. Sunny was smothering his snickers behind his hand, and Moe's dark eyes eyes sparkled with amusement.

"Whassit?" Came spilling from her mouth as she rolled over on the grass. She had been sleeping in the cool jungle under a large dying tree. Atrus was doing his best, but Riven was racing towards its end at a breakneck pace that could only stop in a wreck. She blinked rapidly at the brown leaves before sitting up. She'd love some strong black coffee.

She cleared her throat, "What is it?"

"The message came. The elder you call Fisher wants to see you," Sunny said once he got control of himself.

"And what is Mr. Celebrity doing here? Shouldn't he be with his public?" Six poked Moe in the arm. He stepped back and dumped the rest of the water from his bucket on her head. She shook her head like a dog and sprayed droplets from the ends of her hair.

"I do not understand you," Sunny said. Six couldn't tell if he was confused over what she said or how she was acting.

"What's Moe doing here?" She asked.

"Hiding," The teenager answered easily without consulting with the man.

"Oh," She laughed and Sunny grinned back.

Moe frowned at her, having guessed what she found so amusing. He glanced down at his bucket and mumbled something. He made to go stock off, probably to go find some more ammunition, but Six jumped up and grabbed his arm. He stared at her, bewildered.

"Oh no you don't. You're escorting this fair maiden, gallant sir. Come along now."

As she was tugging Moe towards the village she caught sight of Sunny mouthing the words 'fair maiden' with disbelief written all over his face. Six ignored him, but a grin tugged at her lips. She had never in her life been the fair maiden. Amata and her had played pretend fantasy games all the time when they were kids, but she had been the knight and Amata the faithful archer. Her dad had to play the part of a feeble king needing rescue in the absence of a willing princess...

Six let go of Moe when he got the idea that he needed to accompany her. When they entered the Village proper people immediately cleared out of their way. Most stopped and stared as the three went passed. The idea to have Moe as a figure head had worked out perfectly with the Moiety council's backing and Sunny had proven especially helpful. The kid knew which people to gossip to get the stories to spread like wildfire. Everyone knew about Moe's bravery against Gehn, knew he stood up to death without fear.

Okay, so it was overblown a bit. But it was the consensus of most of the Council and her that the Rivenese needed someone other than Catherine and Atrus to look up to. It was a slow shift, but one that needed to take place sooner rather than later. The faster Atrus stopped being looked to as a god the better, and the man himself would agree wholeheartedly.

Six had identified which of the Moiety Council were the level headed, pragmatic ones and which were the blind devotees to their beliefs. They were almost split evenly down into two groups. Six avoided the latter as much as possible as there would be little she could do about them at present and stuck with the former. Fisher and Evar, her favorite members, were the two she usually met with.

Evar had once been a trusted high-level member of Gehn's guard before Atrus came into the picture and mucked things up. He had had a good seat to the proceedings when they went down. Gehn had ordered him fed to the Wahrk for knowing too much. Evar had fought his way out of capture instead, that's how he lost his eye, and spread the truth of the story around the Village. His account was one of several and quickly morphed into something it wasn't, but there was little he could do about that and still get a rebel group going. He told her that the best thing he had ever done was shaken Gehn's confidence in his control over his security. He employs far less now than he had before. If he had not, than there would have been enough guards to snuff out the riot.

The old man had confessed to Six through Sunny that he had never really spoken to Katran before she had been captured. They had never been introduced before her return to Riven, but he had been one of the men who kept tabs on Gehn's original Guild of Writers and ensured they weren't attempting sedition. Evar hadn't felt comfortable talking to Katran because he knew the right thing to do on their first meeting would be to confess to having spied on her in her youth. He hadn't been able to work up the courage to do it, not to the woman everyone looked to like a goddess. He could fight against anything Gehn threw at him, but not the accusing stare of a single woman less than half his age.

Six was brought out of her thoughts by Moe tugging her out of the path to let a cart go by. The dead lay under a tarp shielding them from view. Corpses barely gave Six pause, but Moe and Sunny averted their eyes. The Courier thought them lucky that more hadn't died the night prior.

The three continued and Six made a bigger effort to keep tabs on her surroundings. Heights always made her feel a little dizzy, but it wasn't so bad that she couldn't suck it up. Still, she avoided looking down from the walkways as much as she could.

The fact that the Rivenese had to build on the side of cliffs for lack of other space was a sad one. Five islands and that was the only land they were allowed to use. Six pushed that out of her head. When everything was said and done they would have the entirety of Tay to themselves to do with as they pleased. She could only hope they learned the right lessons from all of this.

Sunny jogged ahead of her towards a hut and used the star knocker on it six times. Nelah opened the door for them, she smiled and let them in. She stopped Six with a hand on her shoulder and handed her a folded piece of parchment. Six stopped in the entry way and read it right there.

_Six,_

_Such a strange name, but I sense it is the only one to fit you truly now. I have dreamt of you. And such strange dreams they are. I do not understand a number of the things I see, but some of it gives me hope where I had none before. That is a gift I fear I will never be able to repay you. _

_I have heard of your battle with the Wahrk. I must confess that I am glad that it is dead. It has caused so much grief for so long, but I fear the effects of it on those that have lived in its shadow for so long. If only they would listen to reason. _

_Gehn is far from happy with you. You must be careful, my friend. He plots your death as I write this in secret. He will make a spectacle of it, it will be slow and painful. He has told me of your intention to trade a Linking Book to D'ni in exchange for me. I must have faith that this is part of a ruse between you and Atrus, but if it is not, and it is a true Linking Book, than you must not make that trade. Gehn cannot be allowed to escape! He will kill both you and my husband the first chance he gets. _

_Do not come to Age 233, he has a trap waiting at the Linking Sight, a cage that Gehn has the only means to unlock. I must keep this brief as I am being watched. I will pray now, for it is all I can do here._

_-Catherine_

"Nelah got to Tay before the fighting began. She doesn't risk returning to Gehn now," Sunny told her when she took a picture of it with her pip-boy and then folded it back up.

Six nodded to him to show that she heard him before removing Benny's lighter from her pocket and lit up the corner of the letter. She passed Moe who had taken a seat in the sparse sitting room and tossed the letter into the lit hearth.

It seemed she wasn't the only one having odd dreams, but it sounded like Catherine could remember the majority of hers. Six only had a vague recollection. Something about water.

It was always about water.

Fisher was waiting for her by the window overlooking the lake below. The twisted form of the gallows still remained floating forlornly on the surface, though the remains of the Wahrk was long gone. Six thought about asking the man what had been done with it, but tact won the battle with her curiosity.

Fisher was the second youngest one on the Council. His hair was more salt than pepper and wrinkles framed eyes that squinted more often than not these days, having damaged his sight in long days spent under the sun. He had taken the death of the Wahrk hard. He had gone to mourn while others celebrated. Fishermen were taught to give offerings to the Wahrk to ensure safety on the seas and a bountiful catch, and he had done so since the day he had fished for the first time under his father's tutelage. Fisher didn't hold a grudge against her, he had sensed that the Wahrk was nearing it's end anyway due to its tie with Riven, but that hadn't made it any better.

He turned away from the window to greet her with the morning sun shinning brightly at his back. She smiled at him and he led her and Sunny over to a table sitting out of the sunlight.

Nelah appeared with a tray burdened with cups of water and set one down in front of each of them. She ruffled Sunny's hair and set down a roll with icing on it in front of him. Bread was a rare thing on Riven because of the lack of farmland so that was quite the treat indeed. Sunny's whole face lit up and he said something in his language that could only be a form of gratitude. Nelah just smiled at him before leaving again.

Sunny took a bite of the roll, savoring the taste. Fisher and Six held off their talk long enough for Sunny to eat half of his treat. The kid deserved it with all the good work he had been doing, and keeping it all under his hat. He was an exceptionally good sport about everything.

"Gehn has replied to your message. The trade will be made tomorrow at noon," Sunny translated after licking his fingers clean.

"Where?" She asked.

"He wants you to come to Age 233."

"Send a message back. Tell him Katran is to be present at the meeting," Six replied.

Sunny relayed what she said and Fisher nodded, but looked troubled. His head turned towards the window and he tapped his fingers against the table.

"He wants to know if you really think that's a good idea."

"I do. I figured he had a trap waiting. Katran wrote and told me it's a cage, I assume it's like the one I arrived in. It'll have a lever release out of reach. I feared something a little more deadly, but I can work with a cage," It was certainly a sight better than death. "I have a feeling he'll be too curious to have me killed right away, they always are."

Fisher just nodded when Sunny was finished talking, He didn't look any less troubled, but he was accepting the situation. They sat in deep thought and Sunny took the opportunity to finish his treat.

They heard five knocks on the door below and Nelah opening it. A few moments later there was footsteps on the stairs and Evar appeared in the room.

"Hello," He said. The old man appeared distracted as he took the last seat at the table across from Sunny. Fisher began talking to him, and Sunny told her that he was filling Evar in.

"He agrees with your plan. He says it would be best to give Gehn the illusion of control, he says Gehn is dangerous when he believes his control is slipping. Pushing him more, even a little bit now, could be disastrous for both you and Katran." Sunny took a long drink from his cup. His voice was getting rough from the talking he was doing. It really was a shame he was the only one besides Katran who could speak English fluently enough to be useful.

"What's on Evar's mind?" Six asked Sunny.

"He is dealing with keeping the villagers calm. Most of them still fear the Moiety, some even hate us. He's had to let a few of the villagers go on the mag-levs back to Gehn. He fears Gehn will not be merciful to them."

"If anyone told you this would be easy than they were liars," Six said.

"He just wishes they would see reason," Sunny told her.

"Even the smartest people can be horribly dumb when they want to be." She had seen proof of that far too many times to be surprised.

Evar smiled at her sadly and nodded in agreement when Sunny finished speaking. Fisher said something to him and Evar gave a short response.

"Fisher wants to know if you have any ideas on how to get the people to calm down?"

"Print up some posters?" Six shrugged. Maybe it was never too late for a little propaganda. Too bad the Rivenese didn't have radio broadcasting.

"I do not understand," Sunny replied.

"Start improving your image. Show them that they have nothing to fear from you. Come up with something catchy. Use Moe and the others who blew up the book making equipment, or anyone else. Point out their bravery and the fact that they haven't been smote yet. Show off some of your guys in uniform doing charity work. Spread the word and a lot of them will come around eventually. And remember that a friendly smile can go a long way."

Sunny had to stop several times during translation to clarify something, but he seemed to get what she was saying better than they did. Six ended up getting permission to do the project herself as they both looked a combination of confused and a bit weary. They ended their meeting with more on their minds coming out than they had coming in.

Downstairs she found Moe engrossed in whatever he was discussing with Nelah. They must have interrupted something personal because Sunny turned red as a Legion flag when they walked in. Moe trailed off when he saw them and cleared his throat. He leaned back and effected and an air of nonchalance. It would have been believable had he not been caught red handed. Nelah covered her face, the very picture of mortified.

Six managed to pretend that she had seen nothing as she headed out the door with Sunny. The teenager shook his head when they were free of the hut.

"He'll never get a chance with her if he says stuff like that," He said.

"She seemed more upset we had heard it rather than from him actually saying it." She looked around and watched people scurry away at the sight of her. They were as skittish as the slaves in the Pit when they saw one of the Ashur's men coming. That cut right through all her callouses and tugged at her heartstrings. "Come on, let's get out of people's way. There's a few things I want to talk to you about before I let you go."

"Yes," Sunny said genially.

He walked ahead of her and led her back to the jungle. He greeted several people in Moiety colors on the way who returned it cheerfully. When they were out of the village and onto the winding paths, he looked up at the sky and smiled a bit.

"Like being out in the open again?" She asked him with a smile.

"Yes. Tay is great, but it's not the same." He dropped to a slow walk and Six matched him. Now that they were away from the majority of people she was in no hurry.

"Not home yet?"

"Riven will always be my home," He said.

"In my experience, home is wherever you feel safe laying your head down." She had owned hundred of small homes across the country, it got easier to leave each of them behind when the time came to move on. So far, she had stayed in the Mojave longer than she had stayed anywhere since leaving the Capital.

Sunny didn't reply. He squinted up at her against the glare of the sun, just considering what she said. He turned away as they entered the jungle.

"Riven is dying," He whispered as the dying leaves covered the view of the sky.

"Nothing is built to last."

"You are depressing," Sunny told her.

Six smiled grimly. She took the lead and climbed down from the walkway to get to her favorite tree below. It rather reminded her of Harold, but it didn't talk, which was kind of a downer.

"You wanted to speak to me?" Sunny asked as he settled down cross-legged across from her.

"Yeah, I did. Did you understand what I was saying to Fisher and Evar?" She opened her bag and took out some of the dried fruit she had taken from Myst. She had some jerky too and wondered where Roxie had gotten off to. Six hadn't seen her since the night before. She wasn't too worried though, cyber dogs could take care of themselves.

"That's not how you pronounce his name, but yes. You were saying that if we are all going to live in peace after all of this than we need to show them they are wrong about us." He took something that looked like fishing line out of his pant's pocket and began to play with it idly.

"That's right." She popped a dried fruit in her mouth and decided it tasted better than barrel cactus, but worse than banana yucca.

"You want to draw attention away from yourself," He added.

Six smiled, "That too." Someone give the young man a medal.

"You know he doesn't like it," Sunny accused with disapproval.

She could only hazard a guess, "Moe?"

"Yes," He confirmed.

"Than he can come complain to me himself," She waved that away. Six would address that later. "Now, you know these people far better than me. What I want you to do is work with Curly to get some public relations work going. Later, when everyone is settled on Tay, that will mean being seen helping people. Repair buildings, giving out food and medicine, the works. But that's later. Right now, what needs to be done is getting everyone packed and ready to go. Riven won't have much longer now, the sooner people are prepared, the better. The Moiety can help with that."

An apprehensive expression appeared on his face, aware of the weight of responsibility she was dangling in front of him. He twisted the fishing line wrapped around his fingers and said, "You want me to-"

"You're a sharp kid," She interrupted. "If you don't want the responsibility than just tell me. I can get someone else, you won't hurt my feelings. It just means I'll have to explain everything again to someone else. The advantage of using you is that you already understand."

He stared down at the fishing line with a frown. He had made it into a complicated shape that meant nothing to her. "Why uh...Curly?" He asked at last.

"She has a nice smile," Six answered simply.

"Yes? Oh, yes, I see." He nodded and then asked, "Why Moe?"

"He was convenient." That wasn't strictly true.

As if reading her mind, "There's more."

Who was this kid? She wanted to meet whoever raised him, they were doing a good job. "He's brave?" She tried. That wasn't a lie.

He stared at her.

"Moe is convenient, brave, and he was willing to overlook his superstitions for the betterment of his people. That's it. If you have a better candidate, than by all means go for it. You and Curly will be in charge of that sort of thing," She told him.

"I haven't accepted," Sunny reminded her, trying to sound firm but came off like a baby Bighorner trying to imitate their mother after a stranger was spotted near the herd.

"So you haven't," Six humored mildly. "What do you want?"

"Eh, want?" He clearly hadn't been prepared for that. He began to play with the fishing line again and stared at her like that alone would answer his question.

"Sure. That's why you're holding out, right? You want to make a deal?" Well he did now, after she put the idea into his head that he should.

"Oh, yes. A deal," He agreed, straightening up from his slouch.

"So what is it. There isn't exactly a lot I can do for you right now. I'm away from all my stuff, and I'm pressed for time. Whatever you want will either have to be small or you'll have to be paid later," She reasoned. Six had her cards on the table, now what would he do? She knew that she would probably ask for her Sonic Emitter. She'd have to weasel out of it if that were the case.

"I...uh..." Poor kid looked like someone had just pushed him into the deep end without a life preserver.

Six just continued to smile at him. He should just be glad he was getting a lesson in haggling from her rather than Moriarty. No potential murders—or the faking of a murder- of a young woman would have to be involved here.

An idea established itself in his head and he said, "I want to know how you got that scar on your head."

That one threw her for a loop. Out of all the things that she had been expecting, that hadn't been it. "Which one? The bullet hole or the surgical scars?" She pointed to each in turn to show him the difference.

"The first one," Sunny answered.

"Your price is a story?" Only practice kept the surprise from showing its alarming face. He wanted something personal. Things like that were worth more than all the gold and silver in the universe, and you never quite left them behind no matter what roads you take. Looking into his eyes, Six could tell he knew it.

"I like stories. Most of the ones I heard growing up were all about Gehn. I listened harder than the others did and saw they didn't really make sense when you really think about them. Stories have...uh, I do not know if there is a word for it, but stories can teach you things you don't learn in schools. Even false ones say something useful when examined."

"The phrase you're looking for is life lessons or street smarts," Six informed him. She grinned at him, the softhearted devil grin, as Cass called it. It was a good thing she had no qualms about story telling. There were very few subjects she wasn't willing to discuss in detail. The Pit was one of them. The Divide, the other. "Alright, I'll tell you the story, but you'll want to get comfortable because it's a long one."

"What is it about?" Sunny asked, leaning forward. His interest piqued.

She was about to say 'power', but the word that came out was: "Water."

_One Week Prior_

"So they sent their mother to Riven?"

"That is what I said," Atrus answered without looking at her. He had just woken from a seven hour sleep and was actually in good spirits, all things considered. Well, he had been before she brought up the subject of their current predicament.

"Where Gehn was waiting. Gehn, who probably wants revenge on you and her."

"That is the situation."

"You're not seeing what I'm seeing, are you?" Six asked and sighed. She put down Sirrus' journal that she had taken from Mechanical. She still couldn't read it, but she had been flipping through the pages anyway out of boredom. Atrus said that he thought it was in the Serenian language. He didn't understand it, but Catherine might. Whatever Sirrus kept in there would have to wait.

"What am I not seeing?" He asked, taking the bait she laid out in front of him.

"What reason would they have had to send Catherine to Riven?" She started.

"To get her out of the way, I would imagine." He frowned at her.

"Yeah, but why Riven?" She asked, waving her hands at him. "Why there specifically?"

Understanding crept into Atrus' eyes and he said, "You think they made a deal with my father?" A silent horror appeared on his face following that statement, but it was quickly extinguished before it could stay there long. Hidden away and bottled up.

"That's what it looks like to me," She told him gently.

He shook his head, "That's not possible."

"Why not?" She raised an eyebrow at him.

"Because we never told them about Gehn. We felt that the less they know about him, the better. All they knew was what Age their mother came from. We never discussed it further than that. In any case, Gehn has no way to communicate outside of Riven." That last bit seemed to comfort Atrus some, but Six wasn't done.

"You never told them about Gehn, but they were wandering around on their own for awhile. Isn't it possible one of Gehn's people approached them at one point?"

"Gehn's people?" It was like a rock had been dumped on his head. Even as he questioned her reasoning, some revelation seemed to have dawned on him. Whatever it was, he kept it to himself.

"Yeah, the way you told it, he was worshiped as a god on a number of Ages. I'd imagine someone, somewhere was upset he disappeared. Someone completely sold on him, loyal. That kind of person might find an ally in your wayward sons."

"I-I have no Links to Ages where Gehn was worshiped," Atrus protested weakly.

"You said he was teaching people pieces of the Art to help him bring back the D'ni. Could someone have gotten enough experience to find a Link to one of your Ages?"

"Have you asked Sirrus and Achenar about this?" He asked in return, dodging her question. She let him.

"Sort of. This is delicate. I'm not sure it's a good idea to just come out and ask them if I'm right. If I am, they won't admit it. If I'm not, than I've just put a bad idea into their heads. I've been trying to put subtle question to them, but I think they've both caught on that I want to know something specific from them. Achenar is flat out not talking, and Sirrus is way too pleased about it. At least someone's amused by the situation." All she had to do to feel better about Sirrus' annoying smirk was remember his two failed escape attempts before he was sent along to Spire. He hadn't expected the tripwire outside his door, and the second time he hadn't expected the pressure plate in the library. Achenar's one escape attempt hadn't been as funny, even in hindsight. It had ended with Six sporting a nasty bruise on her lower back and arm, and Achenar getting stitches for the mauling Roxie given him in her defense. She had to carefully explain to him that the only surviving Linking Books were in D'ni with Atrus and they all led to empty Ages. There was nowhere viable he could go. After that, he had sat silently through the medical care she had given him on basic principle. He had looked at her like she was the crazy one when she had insisted on fixing him up. She had left him there in Stoneship staring at the clean bandage like he wasn't certain how it had gotten there.

"I see," He said distractedly. What she had deem as 'The Look' was on his face. Six was glad that she had neglected to tell Atrus about the jailbirds failed flights.

"Atrus?" She tried.

"I need to think."

She dropped her gaze and nodded, "You do that." Six stood up to Link back to Myst, leaving him to his thoughts and his books. It was a shame too, Atrus was getting quite sick of both lately.

End of Chapter Seven

Next Up: Packing up, confronting Gehn, and rescuing the princess.

**Author's Note:**

Again, this stuff I'm talking about is going to be important later. I think the next part of this series is going to be a hybrid of Exile and an original storyline about how Tay is getting along in the aftermath of Gehn. I may split the two up, but I think I prefer the idea of one long story that spans Six's entire visit to Tomahna. If you've got an opinion on that, let me know.

Thanks a bunch for reading,

_Home On the Wastes_


	9. Taking Care of Business

**All Along the Watchtower**

**Chapter Eight: Taking Care of Business...**

Riven had gotten the word, the one they had been waiting almost thirty years for. They needed to leave. The Rivenese had expected it to come from Gehn, but the fact that it came from the Moiety didn't change the facts. The Moiety Council was being hush hush about just where they were all going to go, but assured everyone that they did have a plan. Hopefully, Gehn didn't have spies reporting to him, or Six's meeting might get awkward if he asks where it was the Rivenese were expecting to go.

Six spent her time like a recluse in the jungle with only the occasional visitor. Roxie satisfied her large need for exercise by playing with the children who were brave enough to approach her. They were more than happy to keep her busy until Six was ready to Link to Gehn's Age at noon. The adults were just relieved to have the kids out of the way while they scrambled to pack up everything they would take with them. It wasn't a lot of forewarning, but it was better than none at all.

On Riven's last day, she emerged from her hiding place to stand on the edges of the village. She had intended to just watch people dismantle their homes, but an old woman struggling with her pottery brought her out to help. Pretty soon she was helping the woman's neighbors with menial tasks as well. When she went to take a break, a delicate looking girl that looked like a strong wind could knock her down approached Six. She managed to convey that her pet bird had gone missing and suspected it was in the jungle, but she didn't have the time to look for it. Six figured it flew away and there would be nothing for it, but went to search anyway with the little whistle she had been given to call it over when she found it. Six spent the rest of the morning creeping through the jungle looking for a bird with the right plumage. She did eventually find the bird with less than an hour to spare. When she blew the whistle it settled obediently on her finger as she carried it over to the girl's home. It was the closest she had ever felt to Snow White. The girl and her toddling brother's face lit up with joy at the sight of their little pet. The bird sang a gentle song as it flew over to them. The girl tried to give her a necklace made of seashells, but Six declined the gift and made her exit in a hurry.

Six went back to the jungle to get her things together. She took apart the Sonic Emitter, cleaned the parts, and put it pack together. She moved a stimpak and her only anti-venom from her bag to her coat pocket for easy access in case Gehn tried something.

Before leaving, she made her way through the village to get to the hut that the Moiety Council held their meetings. They would be discussing what to do with their prisoners. She hated to interrupt them, but the rebels who had raided Temple Island had stolen the Linking Book to Age 233 and had given it to the Council shortly afterward.

Everywhere she looked the village seemed more barren than it ever had, and people were too busy getting their stuff together to even notice her walking amongst them. Sometimes distraction was better than any disguise. Good thing too, because even if Six wore the local dress she still wouldn't have been able to blend in.

Roxie trotted along beside her, occasionally going off to investigate some smell or other and then coming right back to her.

Six thought about starting some small talk with Roxie on the way, but discarded the idea. It was harder to talk to the dogs than it was to talk to ED-E. Rex and Roxie could only ever answer yes or no questions while the Enclave robot could speak by RobCo terminal code and sound waves that her pip-boy could easily translate. She could even understand some of it without any assistance. That kind of knowledge only came with spending ones life among machines.

"Gehn and his grandkids would get along really well, don't you think." Six couldn't help but say when they were insight of the hut.

Roxie barked twice quickly.

"No? You don't think so?" Six frowned, but didn't question her further. "Huh."

They walked up to the front door and Six knocked three times before remembering to do it another three. The door opened almost immediately after the final knock. Nelah quickly ushered them in, looking unsettled.

Six saw why when she entered the sitting room. One of the eight people that had been captured in the riot sat on his knees, his hands tied behind his back. The Moiety Council in its entirety were having a heated argument when she walked in. Eti gestured for her to come over, and Six spotted Sunny sitting on the floor in the corner with a journal in front of him. He had taken on a paler hue, and he was making a great effort not to look up from his writing.

"Hi, kid."

Sunny glanced up at her briefly and gave her a small grimace that had probably been meant to be a smile.

"Fill me in?" she asked.

"He is speaking for the others. Korvi wants them all executed. Eti wants to spare them. What do you think?"

"Take a vote," Six answered.

"Vote?" Sunny asked.

"Democracy. It's a big thing where I come from. It has it's ups and downs, but it works very well in smaller groups. Let each side speak their piece and then take a count on who agrees with who. Majority wins." She swatted the air beside her head like she was shooing away an imaginary fly. "Listen, this is really none of my business, I just came to tell everyone that I'm heading to the meeting. Who has the Linking Book?"

"Nelah has it upstairs," Sunny replied.

Eti said something to Sunny and the following conversation between the two went for so long that Six was weighing the merits of just sneaking off. They'd probably see her though. Arcade liked to tell her that she was as subtle as a hurricane. If there were any people close by than she was bound to attract attention if she didn't have a stealth boy.

Evar cut in to whatever they were saying and than Korvi and her faithful lackey went on a tirade. Korvi was one of those who believed whole heartedly that Atrus was a god. She seemed to think of Six as some kind of angel or something that he had sent down from on high. Korvi always seemed to agree with everything Six said, and it made her wary. Yes men always did, which was why Yes Man himself was nothing more than spare parts now. She liked it when people agreed with her, but not when they always agreed with her. It reminded her too much of the Legion blindly following Caesar and Charon to a smaller degree. Poor Charon.

Fisher interrupted them calmly and looked expectantly at Sunny.

"They want you to stay and-"

"I'm on the clock, things are already in motion. I gotta get going." Six made her point by heading towards the stairs. "If you want my vote, than I'm with Eti. Let them live. They could be useful in the future," she said. They called to her. Six just shouted over them for Sunny to hear, "Whatever you do, do it fast because everyone is going to have to leave pretty soon."

Nelah was with Moe and Larry upstairs, sitting at the table Six had sat the previous day with Fisher and Evar. Larry had said something that had gotten some subdued laughter from the pair. They stopped when they caught sight of her. Nelah wrung her hands as the men stood from their chairs. Six wanted to ask where Curly was, but didn't want to call Sunny up for just that.

She smiled at the three, but it wasn't returned. Moe went over to the chest at the foot of the cot shoved up in the corner that hadn't been there before. He opened the top with a small key and shifted through a pile of colorful clothes. From the bottom of the chest he pulled out a thin book with a cover that was a very light brown and had D'ni symbols on the front. Moe set it on the table and placed one of Katran's Book Windows on it.

Six peered at the viewing panel. Strange rock formations in a desert climate was on the other side. It brought memories of long hikes going off the roads in the Mojave. The one thing that Age 233 had over the Wasteland desert was the great sea of water lapping at the bluffs.

A hand gently touched her shoulder and Six looked to see Nelah had gotten up from her chair, silent as a ghost. She held up a badly worn down scrap of parchment that had at point belonged to a bigger whole. Six took it from her carefully and saw what appeared to be some kind of code. She couldn't see what else it could be. Maybe Katran could shed some light on it when they met.

"Take Roxie and go wait for Katran," Six said, and they understood as it had been something they had discussed the night before.

Moe, his face lined with worry, nodded. She wanted to tell him not to be concerned because with her out of the way there would be no one to thrust him into the public light, but didn't bother even trying. Six went through her bag and pulled out the Trap Book wrapped up in a Rivenese dress Six planned to take back to Veronica. She opened it and saw the D'ni room Atrus had set up shop in, but without the man himself in view. According to the journal Atrus had thrust on her just before Linking to Riven, the changed code should be undetectable to anyone who wasn't looking for it.

Six touched the Linking Panel and left Riven behind.

She reappeared facing a round stone table with writing material on it and large window showing off the rocks outside. Linking Books sat on pedestals surrounded her cage within reaching distance Six didn't have to check to know that they suffered from Gehn's flawed writing and had no power in them.

"It would seem our friend has finally arrived Catherine."

Six turned to find an older man wearing an important looking tan long coat that reminded her of Autumn's, but not made of the sensible leather that afforded the Colonel a small protection.

"Sorry. Telling me to come at noon was a tad vague," Six said. She still had the Trap Book in her hand and Gehn eyed with a very small smirk forming on his face. Behind him, Six could see Katran sitting on the floor by a heavy duty door, her wrists bound together by a thick cord digging into her skin. "Ma'am," Six nodded to her in greeting.

"Please, do not do this," Katran said just loud enough for her to hear.

"Just doing my job," she replied easily.

"Yes, your job. Atrus certainly did not send a courier to bring me a Linking Book," Gehn said before Katran could open her mouth again.

"I used to be a courier. I'm more of an Independent Contractor these days. That's just a polite way to say that I'm a mercenary. Atrus paid me to rescue his wife, nothing more than that. He's a bit dim though, paid me in advance. Lucky for him, I keep my promises. Unlucky for him, I do my job my way. If trading you a Linking Book is what it takes, than that's what it takes."

"You cannot!"

"Catherine, please." He chuckled, stopping whatever other protest was going to follow. "Let our guest speak," Gehn said.

Six shrugged and shifted her stance to center her gravity. "Riven's dying. You know it and I know it. Now, I don't much relish the idea of being on a world as it falls apart. So, this is how this is going to work: I'm going to Link to D'ni first, than you'll follow, then Katran, and then we go our separate ways. Deal?"

"No!" Katran protested, and Six could see that Gehn was regretting not gagging her. The searching look he had been laying on the Courier melted away as he turned away from Six to face his captive and the Courier looked her dead in the eye and shook her head at her. Katran, who had been about to jump to her feet, sat back down. She still looked mutinous, maybe even more so.

When he was assured she would give them no more interruptions, Gehn gave Six his attention once more. "I think that sounds more than fair," he said with a smile. "We wouldn't want you to be trapped here."

"No. We wouldn't." She held out the Book to him, "Hold this open, would ya?"

"Of course," Gehn agreed, taking the Book from between the bars. He held it open for her expectantly, watching her closely.

Six smiled at him and touched the panel. She could immediately see why Achenar and Sirrus weren't fond of being inside the book. An infinite sea of black with only a small window of light to see out of in the distance.

She was only there for a moment before Katran took her place.

Plan B. Six had Chance's knife out and was rolling out of the way before she had even fully materialized back in 233. A gunshot rang through the room, missing her by inches. Another man-a man she recognized as the one Moe knocked out with a dart when they had first met-made to grab her, but got a knife shoved into his neck for his trouble. She jumped back to her feet and slashed towards the old man with her blade.

Gehn back stepped with speed she wasn't expecting. He wasn't holding any type of rifle she had ever seen before, but all she had time to observe of it was that it fired and it had a bayonet at the end. His reach was longer than hers with the weapon and he jabbed it forward, aiming to disembowel her.

Six dodged backwards, getting distance between them. She could already tell he was better at close range fighting than she was. She'd be a damn fool to keep at it. She managed to get to the other side of the cage and the dead Linking Books before Gehn readied his weapon to fire again. It was a good thing it wasn't an automatic. She had survived machine gun fire before, but that didn't mean she enjoyed the experience.

Six hit the ground just in time to save her vital organs, but the bullet or whatever it was grazed her shoulder. She grunted and came back up with her Sonic Emitter. She pulled the trigger, using the pip-boy to assist her aim. He gave a cry as he was knocked off his feet. She capitalized on the opportunity and ran forward.

Gehn wasn't out yet, though. When she was close enough, he swung his weapon at her, but he had done it much too early. He got her across the stomach, deep enough to leave yet another nasty scar there, but not enough to kill her instantly. She quick fired another shot at him and this time the tell tale signs of paralysis from Gabriel's Bark took hold of him. Six opened the Trap Book, put it on the floor, and dropped Gehn's hand onto the panel. He disappeared in a flash of gold and Katran appeared in the spot he vacated.

"If anyone ever tells you an old man is not good in a fight than they are dirty liars," Six said as she jabbed a stimpak into her thigh.

"Are you alright?" Katran gasped. She came over, maybe to help in some way, but Six stopped her. Her wounds were already knitting themselves back together under the influence of the chem, much to the Rivenese woman's amazement.

Before Katran could question how it was possible, Six said, "Believe me, I've lived through worse. What about you?"

"Me?" she asked. She looked about the room, pointing out the dead man and the shattered the windows with a sweep of her hand. Six had been so distracted by staying alive, she hadn't noticed.

"Yeah, are you wounded in any way?" As Six asked this, the blood had stopped flowing from her wounds and pink scar tissue could already be seen forming.

"Not in the way you are thinking," Katran said softly. She averted her eyes from the dead man and shuddered. "A wounding of soul, perhaps, but time will heal it."

"Time's a double edged sword. It heals only with aid, left by itself all it will do is decay." Six's eyes became distant as her mind went somewhere Katran could not follow.

"Wise words," she said loud enough to get Six's attention once more. "Did you say them to my husband as well? About my sons?"

"How did you-"

"Did you not get my letter? I dreamt of you. I saw you holding out your hand to my sons, my lost boys, to help them up, for they had fallen. You were calling Atrus over to assist you. I did not see what happened next."

"Are you a psyker?" Six asked.

"I'm afraid I do not know that word," Katran replied.

"Huh," Six frowned, thinking of the Forecaster. Six shook her head. "But we don't have time to sit around here. Do you know how to signal Atrus?"

"My dim husband?" she said with a soft laugh, but then sobered. "Yes, we have to move quickly. Gehn's people already know what is happening. I'll have to get the villagers to safety as soon as possible."

"Way ahead of you. The evacuation order should have been given the moment I left. The Moiety are waiting for you, they want to see that you're okay."

"Good! Good. You go back to Temple Island and reopen the Fissure. I know it's risky, but it's the only way to signal Atrus. I'll try to make it back there as soon as I can, but don't wait for me. Do you have portal combination, it should have been in my journal?"

The note that Nelah had given her before linking came to mind. "Is it this?" Six asked as she took out the parchment and handed it over. "If it was in your journal than I don't remember it." Her memory strikes again. She was usually pretty good at writing down passwords and things that looked like codes, but by the time she had gotten two pages into Katran's journal she had gotten a headache from trying to decipher the handwriting. She must have missed it, or promised to come back it and never did.

Katran smiled and said, "Yes, this is it. Take this and go. Good luck."

_Six Months Prior_

"Hey," Six greeted and invited herself to sit beside the giant of a man.

"Hello," Ulysses replied. He shifted around to face her in part.

Six examined him for a moment to ensure he wasn't showing any signs of ill health. Same eerie eyes, same mask, same hair. Satisfied for the moment, Six uncapped a Sunset Sarsaparilla and took a drink. She held up a spare bottle to him, but he declined as she knew he would.

"What has brought you back here?" He asked. A scream carried up to them, sounding close by. Ulysses leaned forward to look over the cliff side they were perched on.

"Do I ever have a reason to be here?" Six watched him, her hand moving to grasp her Gauss Rifle. When he leaned back without making any other moves, she relaxed.

He looked at her with some rare humor in his voice, "There was the time I led you here like flies to honey."

"I meant aside from that."

Ulysses stared at her unblinking long enough to make her want to squirm. "No, you never seem to," he said.

"I do talk your head off," Six smiled. "I guess that's a reason, but I don't think that's what you meant."

He shook his head, "The road you walk is the strangest I have ever seen. It winds and twists in nonsense patterns."

"Are you talking about my initial trip across the continent?"

"No," he answered. "But I have no doubt it was eventful."

Taking that as an invitation, she began, "I had always wanted to go to Las Vegas. I saw so many vids and read a few books. It sounded a sight better than the Capital, and I had heard that the west hadn't been hit by the bombs even half as much as the east coat had. I made the brilliant decision to go from Northern Virginia up to Michigan and than immediately went directly south when I realized it's fucking cold up north in winter. Don't say anything, I know it was dumb. Anyway, I hit Alabama and decided I hated the weather, so I traveled north-west into Nebraska. I ended up in New Mexico after a series of misadventures involving a treasure map, a drunken ex-Enclave officer, and a cult. I went north again into Colorado. This was either before the Legion campaign there, or I missed them completely. I ran into nothing, but dogs when I was there. Then, I went through Wyoming, and Idaho before finally entering Nevada. I decided that I liked it, and stuck around."

"That must have taken an eternity," he observed after he reflected on her story for a moment. Having a conversation with Ulysses was always an exercise in patience. He always thought hard on everything he was told before he made a short reply. He wasn't a big conversationalist. He would answer questions with his own spin of wisdom thrown in, he'd tell his own stories, or tell a long speech on his beliefs, but never small talk with anyone who wasn't Six. She appreciated the effort he made to be civil to her.

"Not as much as you think. The one good thing about Michigan was that I was able to fix up a motorcycle. I never could get the thing to go to top speed, but it was much faster than walking. It seemed like I stopped at every service station along the way to keep it going. It broke down in Oklahoma, I think it was, or it might have been Kansas. Something like that. I got another one going in Texas, but that only lasted me until I hit the mountains in Colorado. I mostly walked the rest of the way."

They lapsed into silence after that. Ulysses got up and went over to his small camp sight. He built a fire and began to work on making dinner enough for the both of them with the ingredients Six always brought with her for him. She would have declined being served, but knew better than to try with him.

When they were settled comfortably around the fire with wasteland omelets, they began their conversation again. "Did you truly follow a treasure map into New Mexico?" Ulysses asked.

"I never lie," Six said and took a long drink from her soda.

He snorted.

"I'm hurt."

He said nothing.

"I'm going to be visiting Joshua pretty soon," Six said casually. "I'll send him your love." The old man would get a kick out of that.

"And The Malpais Legate clings to life still. Instead of killing him, the fire keeps him alive." Ulysses stared over her head at the red sky.

"His family, his tribe, keep him alive." Joshua's love and endless gratitude towards his people had been the first thing about him that made Six give him the benefit of the doubt when they first met.

"Yes," he agreed. "Their unconditional kindness is a fire that scorches him. Burns away the blackness that collects within. Without them, and the pain they unintentionally bring, he would die. But let us not discuss him."

"Alright," she said and began to idly draw in the dirt with a pole she had found lying in the camp. She tried to think of another topic, but Ulysses beat her to it.

"Vertibirds have flown overhead," he started. "I think they've been surveying the damage. They stopped at the Ashton Silo."

"Not much left of that." She ought to know, it had blown up around her and ED-E's ears.

"It was the Eagle."

"The Eag-You mean the Enclave?" Her hand tightened around the pole and her stick figure became disfigured when she swept it across the ground.

"Some of them, but they were all Eagle." Disgust laced his next words, "Ones of the Old World, dismissing the new." He got up and opened a box to retrieve two lunch boxes marked as: Broc Flower and Xander Root.

"Only some of them were soldiers?" Six asked, watching Ulysses begin to mix Healing Powder together.

"Yes."

"The Enclave have scientists," she informed him with a raised eyebrow.

"These were not the same." He set aside the first little baggy of Healing Powder and began work on another.

"You gonna elaborate?"

"I know what I saw," Ulysses answered simply.

"I'll take your word for it." She had no reason to doubt him. If anyone could tell if there was a difference, it would be an ex-high ranking Frumentarii. "So, the Enclave is back this way? Checking out the silo? What do you suppose they are planing? No, don't answer that. I can guess for myself." Six sighed and ran her fingers through her hair. "Damn."

"They haven't stayed, and I don't think they will be back. Whatever they were looking for—the already detonated missiles, maybe—was not here." He put the lunchboxes and his five new bags of Healing Powder away in the box that he stored his things in.

"Keep your eyes open, will you? Let me know if they do show up again, yeah?" Six asked him. She had given him a way to contact Big Mountain if there was ever a problem. She very much doubted that he would use it, but she wanted him to have the option.

"I will," he promised.

"Thanks Ulysses." She smiled at him. "Now, how have you been? Feeling okay?"

"You are not my doctor," he glared at her. It would have been intimidating if she didn't know that he wouldn't attack.

"Do you have another one? No? Than I'm your doctor. Shut up and let me get out my stethoscope. How are those lungs of yours? Still giving you problems?"

Chapter Eight End

Next Up: The finale.

**Author's Note:**

When I said in the previous story's notes that I was hoping this was going be longer than The Good, the Bad, and the Insane, I meant by more than two chapters. Unfortunately, Riven is quite short when you remove the obstacles of the tough puzzles, and when your main character just wants to get things done as soon as possible by taking all the shortcuts she can find. This would have been a lot shorter had I not added padding to this.

I was once told some time ago that the Riven language is either based on or is a language from Papua New Guinea. I tried to look up names and such from the region, but didn't come up with anything really useful. I'm sure you noticed that I've tried to avoid naming people by giving them nicknames, but I know that can only go so far. I've resorted to just making up names from thin air. If it bothers you, or if you have better names for me to use, than just let me know. I hate making them up.

As for Gehn's weapon, the Heek. I have no idea what it's actually supposed to do, so I made it into a rifle. Sorry if I'm wrong.

Thanks for sticking around,

_Home On the Wastes_


	10. Way Back Home

**All Along the Watchtower**

**Chapter Nine: Way Back Home  
**

Gehn's men were waiting for her on Temple Island. She opened the Dome she had ended up Linking into and began shooting people off the bridge. They had been waiting to ambush her, but she could tell that they hadn't actually expected her to show up. They went down like child's play. Five dead and two had fled.

There was smoke coming up from the Village Island, and Six got a sinking feeling in her stomach. It was a good thing she left Roxie to wait for Katran. The cyber dog would protect her.

She had said not to wait for her, but Six was tempted to do just that. Maybe even head to the Village to meet Katran halfway. The Courier clenched her jaw and went over to the telescope Gehn had set up to observe the Star Fissure. It stood to reason that under the metal ground was what she was looking for.

What exactly was a 'Star Fissure', and how do you expose it?

Six checked her explosives and saw that she still had a couple left. She looked down at the metal covering and jumped up and down on it. She nearly fell to the ground in shock when she realized just how thin the barrier was. The ground wobbled from the impact of her jumps. There were places made of junk in the Wasteland more solidly built.

All the better for her, she supposed. It was a good thing that the world was on its last legs otherwise she would have been horrified.

The telescope was her chosen place for her final four explosives. Six planted them around it and rigged them so they would go off together. She held her lighter in her hand, and hesitated.

**Meanwhile**

Roxie growled low, and bared her teeth. The graceful red woman, Katran, laid a hand on her back. She stopped growling and looked up. Katran smiled gently at her and stroked the short fur on her side.

"Calm. They will not notice us," she whispered into Roxie's ear, barely audible.

Roxie quieted and watched the feet of the men in tall boots carefully from their hiding space. They were arguing loud enough to wake the dead, as Six would say. Was Six okay? She usually was, but Roxie could still worry.

Shortly after Six left, Gehn's remaining men had launched an attack on the Island. The Moiety had to rush the evacuation, and the rebels had remained behind to defend the villagers so they would have time to Link away. Moe, Larry, Curly, and Roxie had been heading to the Linking sight to wait for Katran when they came in. About forty of them, one after another, compared to Moiety's fifteen people remaining in Riven. Gehn's men had Linked into the Dome, and the four had been hard pressed to hold them there until help could arrive. The Moiety had been pushed back fast. Moe had been wounded in the fight, but before he had gone back with the others he had dragged Roxie by the scruff of her neck to a hut. Roxie didn't understand the words he used, but knew what he meant. Hide, wait.

Gehn's men had followed the retreating Moiety further into the village and Roxie hid under a bed in a deserted, ransacked former home. Katran had arrived to find signs of battle, and a torn apart village.

She had given a wordless cry and covered the lower part of her face with her hands, dropping the books she had been holding. Roxie had crawled out from her hiding spot to greet the woman in red. Katran had been shocked at the sight of her, but guessed quickly that the Cyber Dog was with Six.

Katran needed the Linking Book to Tay, so they followed the signs of battle towards where everyone had gone. They needed to hurry, but they also needed to not be dead. The pair had encountered Gehn's men going through the street, searching home after home. Roxie and Katran had been forced to hide in whatever nook they could find. Katran discouraging her from attacking the men.

The arguing people finally left and the two pushed aside several barrels so they could get out from under the large display table they had been taking cover under.

The Tay Linking Book had been moved from its original place near the former Wahrk Gallows, the dog had heard Six talking about it with Sunny. Roxie guessed it was in the hut that the Moiety Council had been using. It had been a nondescript place, the home of Nelah, and so it would take pure luck or time for Gehn's people to find it on their own.

The two crept through the streets as silent as they could be. They passed corpses of both factions as they went. When Nelah's house became visible, Katran forsook stealth and ran for the closed door. The area had yet to be searched, and it seemed like all the soldier types had been traveling in the other direction towards the Rivenese's public buildings.

She tried the door, but found it locked. Katran looked around, at a loss. Roxie went up to the entrance and barked at it. The door swung open and the two were quickly pulled inside.

The Cyber Dog wagged her tail when she saw Eti, Nelah, and the one Six called Fisher. Katran hugged them each tightly. They spoke quickly in their language and Roxie went over to look out a window to watch the walkway.

After only a minute, Roxie heard the sound of someone Linking behind her. She turned her head and saw Katran holding the Tay Book while the others went through. The red woman's eyes were watery as she watched them leave with a gentle bittersweet smile on her lips.

When the last had Linked away, she carefully closed the cover and hugged it close to her chest with the other books she had been carrying. She sighed, and then nodded to Roxie.

"Okay, let us go find our friend," she said. "We must hurry."

Roxie growled and looked back out to make sure the coast was clear. She jumped off the chair she was using as boost and moved to head back outside. Katran grabbed a knapsack laying near the door and put the three books inside. She put it over her shoulder and followed the dog out the door.

Roxie was more than familiar with the way to the mag-lev, and the jungle that led to it. The question was whether or not there would be men guarding it. The cyber dog thought so, but they didn't have much of a choice. Roxie looked down into the water. Unless Katran wanted to take a boat. Without the big fish there couldn't be much danger in the waters.

But no. The mag-lev was the fastest way.

Katran kept low behind her, and Roxie was glad she was better then Six at being sneaky. Not to say Roxie was any better than the Courier, but it still helped. If Six were here, they would be fighting their way to the other island.

They were almost to the jungle when they were finally caught by a patrol doubling back to search where the pair had just come from. Roxie broke into a run, hoping to get into the cover of the trees before they were spotted by the men she picked up on her sensors. Katran followed her lead when she recovered from her surprise.

She thought that they had escaped notice until a shout came from behind them. Roxie stopped running and Katran followed suit, but Roxie urged her forward by butting her head into her. The red woman got the idea and kept going, with only a single backwards glance in the dog's direction.

Roxie got off the path and hid in the foliage to wait for the pursuers she knew were coming. They passed her in a rush to catch up with their quarry. Roxie leapt at the last in line and took him down with her momentum. She tore out his throat before the other three could even realize what had happened. Roxie jumped on another and bit down into his neck, but one of his friends rallied his courage and swung at her with his strange hook weapon. Roxie dodged back and shot a Sonic Bark, catching the other two men in its radius. She finished them off and wagged her tail. Six would be so happy to hear that the weapon upgrade was a success.

The dog bounded off after Katran, her tracker telling her exactly where her charge went.

They met up at the edge of the jungle, Katran having not stopped running until she saw the next set of Gehn's men guarding the stairs down to the mag-lev. There was only three of them, Roxie could take them.

"Wait," she whispered. Katran placed her hand on Roxie's metal back and walked out of her hiding spot towards the men. Roxie whined and shook her head from side-to-side.

A man pointed her out and the others readied their weapons. Katran held up her hands and said something that only received an angry response. Whatever she said next was said with so much pained emotion it made Roxie whine again. The dog recognized pleading when she saw it.

It didn't seem to matter to the men because they advanced on her. Roxie ran out from behind Katran and tackled one to the ground. She didn't have time to bite him though because the one next to him took a swing at her with an axe. She jumped away. Roxie was aware of Katran trying to sneak around, but the third man grabbed her. Roxie shot a Sonic bark at the man with the axe and went to Katran's aid.

Roxie sunk her teeth into the man's leg and yanked him away. She pulled him onto the ground, mangling the leg in the process. He screamed and tried to hit her with his blade, but his swings were wild and only glanced off her metal covering.

Katran ran as Roxie bit and twisted to break the bones. One of the men kicked her, and Roxie rolled away. She shot three barks for each of the men. They grabbed their heads and hit the ground. She went over and destroyed something vital in all three, ignoring their weak defenses as they rolled around in agony.

The red woman was waiting for Roxie by the mag-lev. Katran hugged her tight when she reappeared. She sobbed and shuddered against the dog. Roxie licked her in an attempt to comfort the woman and earned a small smile in reward. Katran took in a deep breath and stood. She moved to the controls and started the machine.

**2**

Six had decided to wait a bit longer. She had been sent to rescue Atrus' wife, and the woman was absent. Six couldn't leave without her, and she refused to go without Roxie. So, she would tempt fate and stay to guard her bombs .

She checked the wounds she had sustained at Gehn's hands and saw they were healed up nicely. Her clothes needed a good sewing, but it wasn't the end of the world...Er, well, it was, but it wasn't. This was where Arcade would make sense of her ramblings for her. She missed him. She missed all of them. Six couldn't remember ever having so many close friends since leaving Vault 101 until she had been shot in the head. Her life in the Capital had been a solitary existence with only Dogmeat by her side most of the time. That had made it hurt all the more when he was killed by Deathclaws in Old Olney. She had insisted on going to bury him before doing anything else. He had deserved at least that.

When she got back she would track them all down. Veronica and Raul both wandered now. Not together, but they traveled the same paths and occasionally met up. She knew their haunts and was confident that they'd be the second easiest to find. Arcade would be the simplest. He still hung around Freeside. Had even gotten a promotion the last time she saw him. Cass had gotten another caravan running under a different name, and Boone was her first choice of guards for the more important runs. They could be anywhere between New Vegas and Shady Sands. That'd take time. Maybe she ought to go retrieve her dogs from Utah and say hello to Joshua and Daniel before she searched up and down the trade routes in the west for a hint of their trail.

And Lilly...she had no idea where Lilly had gone, but she'd find her. Six sealed the promise to herself by drinking the last drops of her bottled water.

The Courier was contemplating damning it all and going out to search when she saw Katran coming out of the rotating room at the top of the stairs. Six waved. Roxie appeared and dashed passed the woman to jump all over Six. She had to endure doggy kisses as she waited for Katran to make it over to them.

"Why have you not signaled my husband?" Katran asked, looking around.

"I'm not willing to leave you two behind," Six told her. "But now that you're here, go back towards the rotating room and cover your ears. Let's call Atrus."

"What are you doing?"

"Go and cover your ears," Six called back over he shoulder. She pulled her lighter out of her pocket and lit the fuses. The Courier ran from the site to take cover with Katran and Roxie. She followed her own advice in the nick of time. The explosion was a big one. Bits of metal flew in every direction, striking everything in range with deadly shards. But that was just the beginning.

A strong gust of wind ripped at them. Metal groaned as it was twisted by the new force placed on them. It seemed to Six to be rapid decompression, but that was crazy. They weren't in a pressurized space. Right?

She risked leaning over, and her jaw dropped. Space? Inside of a planet? What the fuck? When Atrus called it a 'Starry Expanse' she thought that he was just trying to be poetic. Her inner scientist was having an aneurism. She'd give whoever could coherently explain this one to her every single cap she owned.

The sound of someone Linking in forced her attention away from the Fissure. Atrus appeared in the cage Gehn had built, but luckily Moe had broken the locking mechanism awhile ago. He pulled off the goggles covering his eyes and looked around.

"Atrus!" Katran yelled and broke out of cover to run to him.

He met her halfway and Six couldn't help but smile when she saw them embrace. They pulled back and they just looked at each other for a moment, ignoring the chaos unfolding around them. Drinking up the sight of the other safe and whole. Katran then stepped away from him and turned back to face the approaching Six.

"The villagers are safely in the rebel Age," she said as Atrus walked up to stand just behind her. She looked up at him and smiled. She placed her attention back on the Courier and said, "I thank you."

"As do I," Atrus agreed. "You have accomplished more than I could have ever hoped for. You've given me back my life, and a clear goal for the future." A harsh gust of wind blew harder than any of the previous ones. "The path back home is now clear for all of us."

Atrus and Katran stepped away from her. He held the Book back to D'ni open for his wife. With one last look in Six's direction, Katran Linked away. It seemed to Six the look had been one of goodbye. Atrus closed the book in his hands and faced Six once more.

"This is where our paths must part. Perhaps we will meet again someday. You know where to find me-us." Atrus walked over to the drop off into the Star Fissure and held the Book over it. Before Six could react he said, "Goodbye, my friend." And disappeared in a flash of gold, dropping the book into the Expanse.

"Atrus!" Six screamed, too angry to be panicked. She dived towards the drop off, landing belly first at the edge, but it was far too late to catch the falling book. "Shit!"

Roxie howled beside her.

There was a lurch. The earthquake was sudden, and immediately devastating. The rock she and Roxie were on gave way and they fell. Six wrapped her arms around the dog before they could be separated. Stars and blackness flew past her at an alarming speed before it slowly came to a crawl. She tried holding her breath, but gave up when it became futile. Air filled her lungs, astounding her. Space didn't have oxygen. What was this?

Roxie whined and squirmed in her arms, but Six didn't release her. It seemed they were floating now, or maybe just going so slowly that their journey was imperceptible to her.

The blood stopped rushing in her ears, and the adrenalin died down. When she was calm, the memories of what she knew about the Star Fissure began to assert themselves in her mind.

"Where did you find the Book, Roxie? The one that led to Myst, that started all of this. Where was it? Because I think that's where we're going," Six said. Her words sounded obscenely loud in the void. It was something, rather than nothing in the emptiness surrounding them. She looked up and saw the gouge in Riven that they had fallen through getting larger and larger in the distance as the Age collapsed. They had fallen a long way from it, and they were getting farther still.

The dog just continued to whine instead of answering in any way. She pet Roxie idly, and closed her eyes.

"Let's hope the Think Tank still has that portal, or whatever it was, open. I'd like to go home. Back to wide open spaces, and roads that never seem to end..."

_Fourteen Years Prior_

The memory was incomplete, fractured like a broken mirror with a lot of its pieces missing. It was made up of nothing more than sound and smell and blurry vision.

"...you don't make friends easy, do you?" Dad said with a sad smile. He cleaned the cut on her head with a special kind of tender care he didn't give to any of his other patients.

She said something. She can no longer remember what. His response was similarly lost to time and trauma. Dad took her hand and led her back to their small apartment.

When they were inside and away from the prying cameras of the Overseer, he sat her down in the large comfy chair he usually read to her in.

"I'm going to tell you something that I want you to remember, sweetie. Pay attention," he said solemnly.

She looked down at her hands and said, "Okay." She fidgeted in the chair and wished she could be standing, dancing, running, anything other than sitting.

"Every action, every decision you make will effect everything around you. Some effects will be very small, you might not even notice them. But they are there. Think of it like drops of water hitting a pool. It causes ripples that spread out all across its surface. Now, your little fight with Butch and his friends has had three obvious outcomes. One, you are grounded for a week, or until the Overseer calms down. Two, Butch will think twice before breaking another of Amata's dolls. Three, you have divided people's opinions of you. Half of the Vault think you to be brutish hooligan and the other half see you as a brave young lady who stands up for her friends."

"I don't care what they think. I did the right thing," she said hotly. She squeezed her hands into fists and finally looked her dad in his blue eyes.

He nodded, seemingly agreeing with her. "Yes, but will you feel that way when they ostracize you because of the new rules the Overseer is going to institute among your age group to prevent another incident like this one." He raised his eyebrows in a manner that she would unconsciously imitate when she was older.

"What's he gonna do?"

"More community service work and less free time to play," he said with some sympathy.

"Oh." No one was ever going to talk to her ever again. Even Amata wouldn't want to be her friend after this got out.

"Yes, oh. Sweetie, I'm glad you did what you thought was right, but you have to learn not to always think with your fists. You are a smart girl, use that head of yours." He patted her cheek and smiled a little.

"Do I get to volunteer in your clinic?"

"The clinic, or you can help with maintenance. Your choice."

That was a question. She bit her lip and thought hard. She liked fixing things, but she loved spending time with Dad. Volunteering would give her more time to be around him. "I wanna help you," she said and smiled at the thought. Maybe more work wouldn't be so bad.

"I would love your help," he said. He ruffled her short hair and got his hand shoved away. Dad laughed at her disgruntled expression before saying, "But right now, how about you go get Alice's Adventures and I'll read to you until dinner..."

All Along the Watchtower End

Up Next: The sequel

**Author's Note:**

"My god...it's full of stars..."- 2001: A Space Odyssey. Sorry, couldn't resist.

Six's adventures across the Ages is far from over. Myst III: Exile is up next, but it will be one story among others during Six's reunion with Atrus and his family. I am going to be taking a short break from writing, so expect the first chapter of the next Fic up in about a week. Two weeks at the very most. We'll see.

I hope you enjoyed this. It's been a slow beginning, but I think I'm getting some forward momentum going in this series. The added plot elements I have planned will begin to really take shape from here and beyond.

See you in Tomahna,

_Home On the Wastes_

**Disclaimer: I own nothing that can be recognized in this Fanfic.**


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